Sorcerer of Silver Light
by Aeondragon
Summary: When his uncle kicks him out after his third year, Harry spends the summer learning more about magic. When he discovers the uniqueness of his Patronus, he takes it to its ultimate expression. Pairing undecided at the moment, but no slash.
1. Time in Diagon

**I've personally always had an interest in the Patronus charm, which spawned this whole story idea. It was clearly the most advanced spell Harry ever learned, but I wanted to see him do more with it.  
><strong>

**This story will probably not have Evil!Dumbledore, but I'm not 100% sure. Harry will likely be losing his friendships with the Weasleys, since I dislike Ron and hate Ginny.  
><strong>

**It might look like it at first, but I am NOT using the cliche of nice goblins, for those of you who think the concept is overused. Also, don't let the fact that Harry will be an heir to multiple Founders to mean the same things as it does in most fics. What I'm planning to do with it is something that I've never seen before.  
><strong>

**The concept of Alar is borrowed from the Name of the Wind. It's certainly going to be very useful, but it is not a substitute for Occlumency. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1 – Time in Diagon<strong>

Harry closed the book with a frown on his face. After seeing the power his Patronus had, he'd begun to research them. If a wizard could defeat over a hundred dementors with one patronus, the wizarding world was far too frightened by them. Hell, he was too scared of them.

However, Harry's research had shown him that it was rare for a wizard to be able to hold off multiple dementors for a few minutes, let alone drive them off. It explained why Lupin had been so surprised that he'd made such quick progress with the spell. He'd continued to practice with the incredible charm, if only to make sure he could do it again if he was in a similar situation.

The spell was supposed to be insanely difficult, requiring a powerful magical core and intense focus. Every wizard had their area of specialty, and if Harry had to guess, he'd say that the Patronus was his. Thankfully, the library had a small book on the subject. It had been misfiled, as it had the same marking that other books in the restricted section, but he didn't mind.

The book was written by a former warden of Azkaban, who was said to have been a master of the charm. Apparently, the Patronus was once considered to be considered similar to the most powerful dark magic spells, before there was such a division between light and dark magic, due to the need for intense emotion in its casting. He believed that wizards had barely scratched the surface of what the charm could do. The spell could help with the influence of dark magic, even acting as a shield against some spells. A corporal form, cast by a strong enough wizard with a powerful focus, could concievably be used like an animal conjuration, actually attacking others with the spell. He believed that it was possible to change the form of your Patronus, with an incredible amount of mental strain.

The mental discipline provided by something called Occlumency was supposed to help, but Harry couldn't find any books that provided more information on the subject, beyond the fact that it was a mental discipline that helped greatly with spellcasting, as well as memory retention. He even snuck in at night the next night, using his father's old cloak, to search the Restricted Section. When all else failed, he decided to try something else.

* * *

><p>Harry made his way to the stone gargoyle.<p>

"Um…" He hesitated, feeling weird talking to a statue, even one that he knew moved around. "Could you tell Professor Dumbledore that I'd like to talk to him?"

The gargoyle seemed to lean in, staring into his eyes. Harry got the impression that it was judging him. He squirmed a bit, before, much to his surprise, the gargoyle moved aside, allowing him to climb the stairs to the Headmaster's office.

"Come in, Harry, come in." Dumbledore's voice called out, before Harry had even touched the door. He pushed inside. "I was just working on some paperwork. What can I do for you, my boy?"

"Well… You said that I could come talk to you if I needed anything, right?" At the headmaster's nod, he continued. "Well, a book I was reading mentioned something called Occlumency. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find anything. Even Hermione wasn't sure what it was…"

"Ah." Dumbledore sighed. "Occlumency is an interesting subject. It is a semi-restricted form of magic, not on its own merit, but because of the need for its other half, Legilimency, to test it, or even have a need for it. Legilimency is a heavily restricted form of magic. A muggle might call it mind reading, though that is not quite correct. Either way, to used Legilimency on anyone without explicit permission is illegal. Why are you interested in Occlumency, Harry?"

"Well, a book I was reading said that it helped a lot with spellcasting, as well as memory retention. I figured that I could use all the help I can get." He shrugged. "I figured that I could try to learn it over the summer, since I have nothing better to do. If it's a mental thing, I probably wouldn't be in trouble for learning it."

"Unfortunately, Harry, I cannot allow you to practice unsupervised. It is both dangerous and illegal." At Harry's crestfallen look, he continued. "However, I would be happy to find you an instructor next year."

Harry looked up, surprise on his face. "Really? Thank you, sir." He hesitated, before deciding to press onward. "I don't suppose that you have a book I could study over the summer, if I promise not to try and actually learn it?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Eager, aren't you, Harry. No, I'm afraid that the texts are likewise semi-restricted. It would be quite a fine if anyone saw you with a book on the subject outside of certain locations." He thought for a moment, seeing the diappointment on Harry's face, before seeming to come to a decision. He opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a small book. "However, I did recently recieve a book on a more unknown mental discipline… I have not had a chance to leaf through it myself, but I'm sure you can put it to good use."

Harry accepted the book with wide eyes. "Thank you so much, sir! I truly appreciate it."

"You're quite welcome, Harry. Do say goodbye to Fawkes on the way out." He hoped that he could mend fences with the boy. After everything that had happened to the child, he deserved all the help Dumbledore could give him.

Harry stopped by the firebird to pet it, remembering how it had saved him against the basilisk. "Thanks again, Fawkes." The bird released a soft note that somehow said 'you're welcome'.

With a smile, Harry headed off to Gryffindor Tower, eager to take a look at his new book. He glanced at the cover.

"The Principles of Alar, huh? Sounds interesting."

* * *

><p>Alar, also called the riding-crop belief, is the ability to believe something, even something that you know to be completely false, so utterly that witnessing something contradicting your belief will not even shake it. The second stage of this discipline is the ability to hold two contradicting beliefs in your mind at once. A master practicioner of the discipline can hold half a dozen beliefs in their mind at once, even if they all contradict each other.<p>

Alar is an incredibly complicated mental art, one that can drive the unprepared quite mad. It requires an intense mental fortitude that most are unable to muster. However, the benefits are quite immense. Alar allows the user to manipulate their own mind. It provides a powerful defense against Legilimency, and allows the user to divide their mind, granting them the ability to devote their entire intellect against multiple thoughts simultaneously.

These divisions allow the user to wield some of the more powerful spells, those that require both emotion and intent, without fear of losing themselves in the power and emotional backlash. For any task requiring focus, Alar is an ideal method to assist you, assuming you are able to master it.

Below are some examples of exercises you can use to attempt to develop your Alar:

* * *

><p>Harry sighed as the train pulled into the station. As much as he hated his relatives, they'd leave him alone… probably. Right now, he wanted little more than to go to sleep. He had stayed up late two nights ago reading the book, then spent most of yesterday practicing. It had taken a lot of work, but he had managed to develop a rather strong Alar. His mind could be divided into two halves almost instantly, though he could split off a third division if he really needed to. It really was quite useful. Luckily, learning how to do it didn't drive him insane.<p>

He had, thankfully, remembered to cast a featherlight charm on his trunk before leaving the school. It would wear off in a day or two, but it would be enough to get him back to the hellhole. He should really look into getting one with a permanent one on it.

He said goodbye to his friends and made his way over to his uncle.

"Hi, Uncle," Harry started, planning to use the 'murderer' status of his godfather to trick them into treating him better, only to be cut off.

"Shut up and get in the car, freak." Vernon hissed. Harry, wary of his uncle's wrath, got into the backseat, with Vernon throwing Hedwig, still in her cage, and his trunk in with him. Harry opened his mouth to yell at his uncle for the treatment of Hedwig, only to snap it shut again when his uncle sped out of the parking lot.

Harry divided his mind, coming up with various reasons as to why his uncle was acting like this, while the other half was paying attention, just in case something happened. He was becoming more inquisitive with the Alar, just developing it had required him to use his mind a lot more, and he didn't really mind.

To his surprise, Vernon drove into an alley, before turning off the car. The huge man stepped out of the car, before tearing open Harry's door. He grabbed Harry's collar. "Get out of my car, freak!" Vernon spat, throwing his much lighter nephew into a wall. Hedwig's cage was thrown next, followed by the trunk.

Hedwig's squawking of fear was enough to bring him back from the painful haze that had enveloped his mind when his head hit the wall.

"What the hell?" He demanded.

"Did you really think we'd take you back after what you did to Marge?" Vernon roared. His meaty fist rammed into Harry's stomach, knocking the breath out of him. Harry collapsed. "That creepy teacher of yours said we had to come get you, but there's no way your setting foot in my home again! Have fun in the middle of London, freak!" Vernon laughed as he drove off.

Harry wheezed as he got to his feet, the breath knocked out of him. It was surprising how easy it was to shove the pain off into another division. It didn't stop him from feeling it, but it did allow him to act as though he didn't, since that part of his mind was dealing with it. He reached down and lifted up Hedwig's cage.

"He's a ass, isn't he, girl? Sorry about that. Can you lead me to the Leaky Cauldron, girl?" He asked the snowy owl as he opened the door. The intelligent bird flew to the ground in front of him, waiting. Harry smiled as he watched her. He might not know where he was in relation to it, but Hedwig always did.

Thanking himself for remembering to cast the feather charm on his trunk, he lifted it up and followed Hedwig to the Alley. Thankfully, Hedwig flew in the air high above him, so no one noticed him being led around by a bird. He got enough weird looks from the empty cage.

* * *

><p>"Hi Tom." Harry said with a tired smile to the owner of the Cauldron as he stumbled into the pub. "I need a room again this year."<p>

The older man smiled back. "The same room's open, Harry. We can deal with the payment later. You look like you could use some rest."

Harry sighed in relief. "Thanks Tom." He said as he hefted his trunk up to the room.

* * *

><p>Harry spent the next few days enjoying himself in Diagon Alley. He restocked all of his ingredients and bought new clothing. He was sick of wearing Dudley's cast offs. Thankfully, Madam Malkins stocked a lot of muggle clothing as well, since wizards needed to go out into the muggle world as well.<p>

He also picked up a new trunk, one with built in featherlight and security charms. This one was rather interesting. It had three compartments. The first was a bottomless one. The enchantment made it a normal sized trunk while empty, but if he tried to push more, or something too large into it, the compartment would expand more to accommodate it. The second compartment was designed to store potions and other projects. It was protected, ensuring that even if he kept a cauldron inside and threw it off a cliff, it would be in the same shape as it was when he put it inside. The third compartment was a bottomless bookshelf. It was just two rows at the moment, but it would expand more if he needed more space.

More importantly, he picked up a number of books on both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He'd had enough of Trelawny's predictions, even if one of them had come true. With Hermione's help, he could probably catch up, though it would take a lot of work. Thankfully, his Alar would help a lot.

Surprisingly, he was quite good at both subjects. His Alar assisted memory allowed him to memorize the runes, including both description and effects. He'd always been good at math, and it helped a lot with Arithmancy. He was amazed at how easily both subjects came to him. He figured that they'd be a lot more helpful than a couple of phony predictions in the future.

He'd already sent a letter to McGonagall about dropping Divination for Runes and Arithmancy. He'd asked Hermione beforehand, and she'd been delighted about his desire to change into her classes, gleefully offering to help him out.

He spent most of his time studying, learning about his new subjects. He also got a couple books on dueling, charms, transfiguration, and defense. He didn't read them yet, but with his memory retention as it was now, he'd probably get to them over the summer. He'd even looked for books on Occlumency, but Flourish and Blotts didn't stock them.

* * *

><p>It was about a week later that he headed to Olivanders.<p>

"Hello, Mr. Olivander." He said, still creeped out by the shop.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Potter?" The strange shopkeeper asked him, his silvery eyes peering intently into Harry's.

"Um… a couple of things actually. First, I was hoping I could get a dueling holster for my wand?"

"Very well. Would you like a wrist holster, or a waist holster?"

"Waist, I think." It would be weird to draw his wand from somewhere around his wrist.

"Very well. What kind would you like?"

"What kinds of enchantments do you have on them?" He wondered.

"It depends on how much you are willing to spend. The least expensive ones are simple leather, with no protective enchantments, and the most expensive are dragonhide, containing a full Auror suite of protective spells. The most expensive would be a dragonhide wrist holster, which comes with a spell that summons your wand with a flick of your wrist and a command word, which can be thought, rather than said."

Harry considered it a moment. "You know what, I think I'll take the wrist one instead, then. I've got a bit of gold sitting around, and I might as well use some of it." He paid twenty galleons, a rather steep price, for the holster.

"What else did you need, Mr. Potter?" Olivander asked.

"Ah, right. Well, I was hoping you might have a practice wand or something. You know, like one without a core I could use to work on my wand movements."

"Ah, hoping to practice with your muggle relatives?" The wandmaker nodded. "Very well, I can make you a practice wand. Wait here a moment." He stepped into the back for a moment, before returning.

"Here you are, Mr. Potter. Eleven inches, nice and supple. Correct?" Harry nodded, surprised at the fact that the man remembered exactly how his wand was.

"That'll be seven sickles for the wood." Ollivander informed him. Harry opened up his bag to get the appropriate change. He was out of sickles, having only twenty five galleons left. He'd have to head to Gringotts. He handed the man twenty one, receiving twelve sickles in change, before heading to the bank.

* * *

><p>Harry walked up to a counter, waiting in line until he got to the goblin.<p>

"Hi, I'm Harry Potter. I'm here to get some gold out of my vault. I've got my key right here." He said, pulling the key from a pocket.

"Mr. Potter?" The goblin said, eyes narrowing. "My name is Sharptooth. Please come with me."

Harry hesitated, but decided that he might as well. Sharptooth led him to a room with a rather strange contraption. It was a silver pedestal, with a bowl at the top. An arm extended out with a sheet of parchment on the end. A quill was also on the arm.

"According to the bylaws of House Potter, as long as there is no Head of the Family, the Heir may claim the Headship of the House at the age of fourteen. This is a blood test, both to ensure that you are Harry Potter, and to test to see if you may be eligible to claim others. Just place a bit of blood in the bowl there."

Harry hesitated again. "What would becoming Head of House Potter do for me?"

"As Head of House, you will have full access to your family vaults. You gain a seat on the Wizengamot, though you may not claim it until you are seventeen years of age. You will be exempt from underage magic laws, as well as a number of others. There are a list of benefits I can have sent to you."

"Wait a minute. You said that I could become Head at fourteen. My birthday isn't for almost two months!"

"True. You will have to return then to claim your Headship. This is merely preparatory work."

Harry sighed. "Fine." He moved towards the pedestal, before stopping. He turned to look at Sharptooth. "What do you get out of this? Everyone knows that you goblins hate wizards. Why on earth would you help me?"

"That is an interesting question, Mr. Potter. Let me tell you a story. Less than twenty years ago, a group of Death Eaters kidnapped and tortured a number of goblins to death, trying to steal certain Gringotts' secrets. Of course, in the end, their silence only bought a few hours of security, as Ragnok, the manager here, caved anyway, eager to save his own skin from the Dark Lord. How else would someone have managed to break into one of our secure vaults three years ago? Lord Ragnok would be most displeased with anyone who helped you, as his vaults became quite full during the final years of the war. Some of us, however, do not agree with his decision, especially when their pregnant mate was lost."

Harry hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"So, Mr. Potter, you are right. Very few goblins can be trusted to tell the truth to a human. Were you anyone else, I would most certainly not have brought you here, unless it was to trick you into emptying your new vaults with fees. Lord Ragnok will be most displeased with me, and I doubt we will ever see each other again. However, I have paid my debt. Thank you for what you have done, Lord Potter. Do not worry about the succession. I will take care of the proper fees from your trust vault now. When you return on your birthday, simply inform the goblins that all fees have already been paid."

Harry nodded, before moving over to the basin. He pulled out the silver knife from the bowl and cut a finger, allowing three drops to fall into the bowl. Moments later, the blood seemed to vanish, even as the quill sprang to life, floating in the air and writing upon the parchment.

_House Potter, Lord – Blood Inheritance_

_House Gryffindor, Lord – Inherited Succession Rite_

_House Slytherin, Lord – Conquest_

_House Black, Heir – Will of Sirius Black_

"What?" Harry gasped at seeing two of Hogwarts' founders upon the page. "How can I be the Lord of Slytherin House?"

"The rite of conquest. Having defeated the previous heir thrice, you may lay claim to their titles. It is an old law. Were the Death Eaters not bound to his magic, you could likely claim them as property as well."

Harry gaped. "W-what about Gryffindor?"

"An inherited succession rite is a task that must be completed by a relative, before you can claim the house. It appears that House Potter was descended from House Gryffindor, possibly through a branch family or marriage. I am unsure what it could have been."

"I drew the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat?" he suggested.

"Possibly. And be careful with that weapon. It is one of the only goblin made artifacts gifted permanently to a human by its creator, and many do not agree with the decision. Others may attempt to trick you into giving it up. I would advise you against it."

Harry sighed. "All right, so I have to come back and claim all three houses."

Sharptooth nodded. "Make sure you force the goblin who takes you to do so to swear a magical oath to follow the proper procedure with no additions. All goblins are required to do so upon request by an old treaty."

"Thank you very much." Harry said to Sharptooth. "I truly appreciate everything what you have done for me."

"Thank me by winning. The Dark Lord is not gone yet, and he will surely come after you. Make sure that you put him down for good this time."

* * *

><p>Harry raised the length of Holly and took a deep breath. A single rune had been carved into its length, before being filled with a bit of liquid silver that had dried. The rune had taken him almost a week to research. He had spent the first week simply practicing the motions and looking up spells, the second looking up runes and Arithmantic equations. The third week, he'd found out something interesting and finally got the chance to practice some spells. Apparently, the Ministry couldn't detect magic used in high magic environments, such as around Diagon Alley. Even most wizard homes had enough magic in them to disrupt the tracking spells, something that pissed him off.<p>

Now, he was going to try something. He focused his Alar, his entire belief focused on positive emotions, allowing him to avoid having to call up a happy memory.

"Expecto Patronum." He called out, willing power to pour out of him. A moment later, when he was about to sigh and put the wand away, a blast of silver light erupted from the tip of the fake wand, forming a powerful stag.

Harry was giddy as he reached out to touch the Patronus. He'd managed it. Even using a runed focus, to cast such a powerful spell without an actual wand was incredible. To his amazement, the stag was solid to his touch.

"I don't believe it." He whispered. How was it possible? His patronus was a physical construct! That meant… maybe… He turned to look at the stag. "Can you do something for me?" He was amazed to see its head bob up and down. "There's a book on the ground next to one of your hooves. Can you move it?" The stag responded by reaching out and shoving the book a few inches.

"Incredible!" He murmured as he reached out to the stag, before he was struck by another idea, his Patronus dispelling after he petted it in thanks.

He broke off another division of his mind, keeping the iron belief of positive energy in one part, in the other he focused on something very simple. The idea that… A wolf, he decided, was the most protective creature in existence. The strongest possible guardian. With the power of his Alar, he twisted his belief, before casting the spell again. It came forth even easier this time, taking on the form of a wolf.

"Amazing." He murmured as he examined the wolf. He consciously removed the division, removing the belief in the wolf. To his amazement, it didn't fade away. "That's awesome. It doesn't require conscious thought to make you keep your form."

He decided to try one more thing before stopping. The wolf vanished as he released the spell, before focusing his Alar once again. This time, he believed in flame. He forced himself to believe that fire was his shield, before casting the spell a third time. A spray of silver flames burst forth from the fake wand, causing Harry to let out a yelp as they began to burn the chair in the room.

Harry discarded the practice wand, drawing his real wand with a flick of his wrist. "Aguamenti!" He invoked, water blasting out of the wand and, to his surprise, not affecting the fire at all. Then, he realized what was happening, and canceled both spells. The silver fire vanished, though the burns on the wood chair were left behind.

Harry sighed as he sat down on the bed. He'd have to replace the chair for Tom later. But first, he needed to figure out what was going on with his Patronus.

* * *

><p>Harry steeled himself as he made his way into Gringotts. He remembered Sharptooth's warning. Get in, get your stuff, and get out. Don't trust them.<p>

He managed to speak to a goblin and demanded that it swear to an oath he'd written out beforehand. He'd made sure to close whatever loopholes he could think of. Among other things, the goblin couldn't allow him to be hurt, couldn't charge him any extra fees, and couldn't delay him any more than absolutely necessary by law. The goblin was furious, but obeyed. He left for a moment to set everything up. When the goblin returned, Harry was led to a room with three boxes in it. Each of them had a different crest on it. Harry recognized two of the three, and the third looked oddly familiar. These were the Potter, Gryffindor, and Slytherin house rings. The Gryffindor and Slytherin crests were identical to the Hogwarts house crests.

He opened the Potter box first, sliding it onto his ring finger on his right hand. Next, he took the Gryffindor ring. The moment it touched his skin, he heard what sounded like a lion's roar, and almost drew his wand. He looked around, but didn't see anything.

**"Who are you? What right have you to House Gryffindor?" **A voice spoke directly to his mind.

"I am Harry James Potter." Harry responded, hoping that he would be heard. "I have drawn the Sword of Gryffindor in a time of dire need. I was told that, as a Potter, I had accomplished the requirements to claim this house."

Something burned in his mind, like fire behind his eyes, and Harry barely managed to stifle a cry of pain. He wanted to stop whatever it was, but the unfamiliar attack caught him completely off guard. The alien presence dug through his mind, and stopped suddenly. The events of the Chamber of Secrets replayed themselves before his eyes, from the moment he had touched the Sword.

"Get… Out… of my HEAD!" He cried out the last word, forcing the intruder from his mind.

**"You are worthy. I accept you as Head of House Gryffindor, Lord Potter. The Flame is at your disposal."**

"Thank god for that." He murmured. "Only one more." He commented as he slid the ring onto the same finger, the two seeming to merge together, though only the Potter ring was visible. He somehow knew he could switch between the two with a thought.

He opened the box, but just before his skin touched the ring, a voice hissed out.

**_"Who dares try to claim House Slytherin?"_** The ring seemed to come alive, a voice hissing from it.**_  
><em>**

**_"I am Lord Harry James Potter. I claim this house by right of Conquest. I have defeated your cowardly heir thrice in battle. I lay claim to his title as Heir of Slytherin."_** Harry responded in Parseltongue. He figured that adding Lord to his name might help, especially since it was true, after all.

**_"You Speak? Interesting… Yes, your magic confirms the truth. You are the new Heir." _**To Harry's horror, the emerald vanished from the ring, only for the silver band to slither up his finger like a snake, before reforming and binding with his other two rings.

Thankfully, the same oath he'd convinced the goblin to swear forced it to take him down to his vaults. He emptied his trust vault into his bag, before taking half of the funds from the Potter vaults, the maximum that could be withdrawn within a single year. To his surprise, there were no actual coins inside of the Gryffindor or Slytherin vaults. He made sure to take all the books, as well as all of the heirlooms he could fit into the bag.

* * *

><p>Having found a few enchanted swords inside of his new vaults, he began to look around Diagon for some way to learn how to use them. He figured that it would be interesting to learn, not to mention that it might be useful. Maybe if he'd known how to use a sword, he wouldn't have been bitten in second year.<p>

Amazingly enough, he found that there was a way to transfer specially prepared memories from one wizard to another, using a device called a Transfer Pensieve. The pensieve would transfer both knowledge and muscle memory into a wizard, at the cost of an incredible amount of pain. Unfortunately, transferring magical knowledge was effectively useless. There was a reason that that wizards learned the way they did. Without actually training one's magic, it became next to impossible to actually cast a spell, meaning that you couldn't learn advanced magic from them. In addition, it was heinously expensive. Unless he wanted to spend half the money he had withdrawn that day, he wouldn't be able afford more than the equivalent of a spellbook or two. Just buying the ability to use a sword in either hand, a relatively archaic and unused skill, cost him ten thousand galleons, the entirety of his Trust vault. He looked around for an ordinary pensieve, figuring that it might be useful, but wasn't able to find one for less than a hundred thousand galleons.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I hope everyone liked it. I've got a bit of the next chapter written, like a fifth of what I have here. I'm going to be skipping as much of the canon as I can. Everything is going to be changing when the names come out of the goblet of fire. But first, we have to deal with certain incidents at the Quidditch World Cup, and the results of those events. <strong>

**Next time: Trials by Fire. Harry tests out his power against the attacking Death Eaters, gets his first taste of an Unforgivable, and pays a rather unpleasant visit to the Ministry.  
><strong>

**Tell me what you think! The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update this story sooner.  
><strong>


	2. Trial by Fire

****Well, since it's a leap day, I decided that I'd rush to get out another update. I already released Temporal, a oneshot, earlier.****

**All right, review responses. ****First of all, since people seem to be worried about this, I will repeat myself.**

* * *

><p><strong>I will never read or write a slash story. PERIOD. I don't really care if you read or write it yourself, but it's not my thing. At all. <strong>**The description is updated, to make sure that everyone picking up the story knows.**

* * *

><p><strong>I will also never write a <strong>HarryGinny **story. I hate her. I hate her more than just about anyone else. I have dropped stories that I might have liked due to too much of her in them.**

**The pairing will not include any gryffindor girl, just to let you all know. The reason for this will be quite obvious next chapter.**

**Secondly:**

**Thanks to: **latdh1, **Dragonladysally****, , darkplayer35, ariana2606, MakinaCZ, johnjohn, kelnom, BeautifulMidnighter, Wandless Wizard, Seraphinus, and Alec McDowell for reviewing.**

**To the person who didn't leave a name: I suppose bashing is the wrong word. I'm going to make a couple minor changes to the last chapter and get edit that line a bit. My plans towards the Weasleys were set in stone from the beginning, but the change is, I think, rational. However, with just a couple behind-the-scenes changes to canon, I think a lot of bashing is perfectly valid, assuming it is well done. If done poorly, I agree with you, but I don't feel bad saying that I enjoy quite a bit of good bashing.**

****My stance towards Dumbledore in this story should be made clear in this chapter.****

****Snape gets credit for nothing. In this story, Sectumsempra is just a higher powered cutting curse that is borderline Dark Arts. The other spells he 'invented' are just spells. He is my one of my least favorite characters, after Ginny and Draco. For reasons, look in the chapter. Harry gets to rant about it, even though he doesn't know half of my complaints about the bastard.****

****Please excuse the court scene later. I know nothing about legal systems. Harry will be acting OOC, but he'll be under mind-affecting potions, so he has an excuse. Also, remember that this is pre-4th year, so Dumbledore is still in power and neither him nor Harry are being slandered.****

****Anyway, please enjoy the next chapter. Warning, includes unimportant character death. ****

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Trial by Fire<strong>

About a week later, Harry received an owl from Ron, making sure he still wanted to come to their house and the Quidditch cup. It seems that everyone thought he was still at the Dursleys. He sent Ron's owl back, letting his friend know that he was staying in the Leaky Cauldron.

He finished all of his business in the Alley, before heading to the Burrow that night. He spent the next few weeks with the Weasleys, enjoying himself, before they headed to the World Cup.

He enjoyed watching the game at such a high level, though he was surprised that Krum didn't do anything that he didn't feel he could do on a broom.

It wasn't until that night that Harry drew his wand for the first time since he'd left Diagon Alley.

* * *

><p>The moment he heard screams, Harry's wand was in his hand. He divided his mind automatically. He had one going through his spells, trying to pick a few of the more useful offensive ones to use. He had another directed to positive energy again. His patronus was too useful to not do so. He climbed out of the tent, followed by Ron and Hermione.<p>

The three of them were making their way to the woods when they encountered a pair of figures dressed in black cloaks with skull masks. "Oh look, it's Potter, the Weasel, and their pet mudblood. Let's have some fun!" One of them laughed as he raised his wand.

"Run!" Harry ordered as he raised his own, a silver symbol glinting on it. His friends hesitated, but the moment a red jet of light shot past him they ran.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed. "They're Death Eaters! Servants of You-Know-Who! You have to come with us!" Harry ignored her. He slashed his wand downward, starting into a spell chain.

"Reducto! Diffindo! Confringo! Sectumsempra!" He roared. The one who had spoken threw up a shield, which soaked up his first two spells. However, the third burst through it, nearly hitting the man. With his final curse, Harry managed to catch the man across one side of his face. However, before Harry could finish his opponent off with a stunner, his knee was struck by a blasting curse from the second man, knocking him to the ground. The wounded man vanished with a scream of pain and rage.

"Crucio!" The second man screamed, his wand pointed straight at Harry's chest. Harry didn't recognize the incantation, but could tell from the look of the spell that it was dark as hell. He threw up the strongest shield he could from his place on the ground.

The jet of red and black light struck the shield and, to his horror, passed right through it. It struck him in the chest and he fell to the ground. It was like a thousand burning knives were shoved into him over and over. He'd never felt anything like it. His wand dropped from nerveless fingers, no matter how tightly he tried to hold it. A dispassionate portion of his mind, split off from the rest of his mind through his Alar, knew that if he could somehow hold out for thirty seconds, it would return to the holster on his wrist… That's it!

Through the pain, he formed the belief that he could beat this pain into his mind. If he'd been an Occlumens, he might have been able to suppress at least some of the pain, but this would have to do. He forced his arm up, fighting through the absolute agony. The dragonhide bracer on his wrist slid into the path of the curse.

Dragons were known to be incredibly resistant to magic. He had been pretty sure that curse was strong enough to get past that, especially since the hide was no longer affected by a dragon's own magic, but for an instant, Harry's mind was clear, freed from the pain. True, he still felt the aftereffects, but for a single moment, he was not directly under the curse. He threw his other hand forward, forcing every ounce of power he had into it.

"Expecto Patronum!" He cried, a solid beam of silver light, half the size of his torso, shot out of his hand.

His face had a look grim satisfaction, as the beam struck the man's torso, utterly destroying anything it touched. He'd wanted something fast enough to hit the man before the curse could hit him again, something strong enough to pierce through any defenses he might have had, to destroy him before he could hurt Harry anymore, and had shaped his Alar to give him just that. A beam of solid power, moving at the speed of light. The laser had torn right through his opponent.

With a groan, Harry looked around. Seeing the corpse made him retch, but he managed to get himself under control. There was a bright emerald symbol in the sky nearby. He needed to get up and move. He needed to go and find Ron and Hermione, so he could make sure that they were both alright.

Unfortunately, his fingers were twitching too badly to hold his wand, and his legs were shaking too much for him to walk, or even stand. Besides, his right knee was heavily damaged. He could actually feel his core's emptiness, the lack of power giving him a strange feeling of cold throughout his body. His eyes flickered open and closed.

"I know what they are, Ron, but Harry stayed behind and-!" Hermione's voice cut off with a harsh gasp and a retching sound. Harry heard Ron's curse of "Bloody Hell!" before his eyes finally closed and he slipped off into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Harry's eyes fluttered open and he let out a groan as he looked around. He didn't recognize his surroundings at all. His wrist holster was gone, and his pockets were empty.<p>

He shivered as he was wracked with pain. It felt almost like a minor version of the curse he'd been put under at the World Cup.

He climbed off the bed slowly, only to shiver again as he felt another aftershock of the curse. One wall was transparent, though there was an obvious door in the wall. He walked over to it, but didn't feel any give.

"Hello?" He called. "Is anyone there?" Another spike of pain shot through him.

"Potter's awake." A voice called. A young woman with bright pink hair walked into view. "Hello, Harry. My name is Tonks and I'm an Auror for the Ministry of Magic."

Harry withstood another blast of pain, before he responded. "Hi, Auror Tonks. Could you tell me if my friends are ok?" He tried to ignore the next shock. "Oh, and what happened at the Cup? The last thing I remember was passing out after using up all my magic. Also, what am I doing locked up in here?"

"Well, I don't know about your friends, but the Cup was attacked by Death Eaters. You're here for questioning, as far as I know." Harry visibly shuddered as another shock of pain ran through him. "What's with the shudders?"

"I dunno. It feels a little like that curse the bastard hit me with."

Tonks froze. "What curse?"

"I don't know what it's called. I think the incantation was… Crucio."

"Oh shit." She cursed, her hair flashing red for a moment. She waved her wand at Harry and he glowed briefly. "Hold on one sec, Harry." Tonks ran out of his sight for a moment.

Harry cursed as he felt more pain. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Here." Tonks said, pushing a vial through the door. Apparently, it was only solid one way.

"What is this?" He asked.

"It's a dose of Anti-Cruciatus Potion." She explained. "The curse that was used is a nasty bugger called the Cruciatus Curse. It's one of three curses that will give you an instant sentence to Azkaban, if used on a human. I'm not sure how you managed to fight through it, but unless the caster ends the curse, you'll feel the aftereffects for a while. This should relieve the symptoms."

Harry drank the potion, wincing at the taste, before sighing in relief as the pain finally faded.

"You're feeling better? Good. I'm supposed to take you before the Wizengamot now."

"Wait, what?" Harry demanded.

"No time! We're already late." Tonks replied as she escorted him down a couple of halls to a door.

Inside the room were dozens of witches and wizards.

"You are late." A man Harry recognized as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge hissed.

"Well, excuse me." Harry replied, rather irritated. He'd just woken up after being tortured, and was in no mood to deal with the asshole who'd refused Sirius a trial. "I just woke up in one of your cells."

"If Auror Tonks would please lead the accused to his seat, we can continue." A stern looking woman with a monocle ordered.

"Wait, accused? What the hell?" Harry demanded. He shook off Tonks' attempt to lead him to seat in front of the panel of officials.

"You are Harry James Potter, of Number 4 Privet Drive?"

"Yes." Harry replied.

"Then yes, you are accused of the murder of Lord Crabbe on the 22nd of August, 1994. Your magical signature was found on his corpse."

"Wait one second. The Death Eater who attacked me was a Lord?"

"Lord Crabbe was found innocent of being a Death Eater almost fourteen years ago." Fudge replied.

"Well, he certainly looked like one when he was cursing me with an illegal torture curse." Harry spat.

"What?"

"According to Auror Tonks, the curse he hit me with was called the Cruciatus, and it's apparently bad enough to land him in prison for life. He cursed me, I attacked back. I lived, he apparently didn't."

Harry ignored the exclamations of disbelief at his cavalier treatment of killing someone. He was pissed off.

"And what the hell is this? I was being tried while I wasn't present. While I wasn't even fucking conscious, in one of your fucking cells? What kind of fucked up legal system is this?" He roared.

"Mr. Potter!" The stern looking witch barked. "Cease your childish behavior and sit down!"

"Fuck that!" Harry spat. "I'm not going to sit down and play nice about this. I was cursed with what is apparently one of the three worst curses in the Wizarding World, I defended myself, and now I'm on trial for murder. Fuck that."

"Normally, I'm against such language, but I find myself agreeing in this case. Imagine my surprise when I return from the International Confederation of Wizards to find that Harry Potter is on trial before the full Wizengamot for murder." A voice that everyone recognized called out.

"P-professor Dumbledore." Harry stuttered. He'd been caught up in the heat of the moment, and couldn't believe what he'd been saying.

"I believe that it is illegal to host a trial before the whole Wizengamot without my presence as Chief Warlock, unless we are at war. Did I miss a declaration of war?" Dumbledore said, his eyes without their usual twinkle. He was not pleased with this. Not pleased at all.

"See here, Dumbledore. The boy is responsible for the death of-" Fudge blustered.

"You told us that Dumbledore had informed you that he could not be present, and that he was giving you temporary control of the seat of Chief Warlock!" The stern witch practically snarled at Fudge.

"As Minister, I-"

"I personally doubt you'll have that position much longer!" The witch exclaimed. "Mr. Potter, clearly this trial has been severely bungled. You are free to go. You will be informed if your presence will be needed."

"Come with me, Harry. I believe that Amelia has this well in hand. I will express my displeasure with Cornelius in person another time." With a flick of his wand, a small bag containing Harry's wand and wrist holster flew right to Harry's hands.

He slid on the holster with a small smile. "Thank you, Professor."

"It's not a problem, Harry."

* * *

><p>"So, I see that you had quite an interesting summer, Harry." Dumbledore said. He'd made a portkey to transport the both of them to his office.<p>

"Yeah, you could say that." Harry agreed. "I-"

"Wait one moment, Harry. I understand that you've been given a dose of Anti-Cruciatus Potion?" Harry nodded. "Then would you mind if I cast a Calming Charm on you?" At the confused look, Dumbledore continued. "The Anti-Cruciatus has a side effect of acting as a Rage Draught. As you might have noticed from your behavior at the trial…" Harry blushed as he remembered his screaming at the top Ministry officials. At his nod, Dumbledore sent a smoky pink jet at Harry. "Now, please continue."

"Alright. Well, after my uncle threw me out of his car, I went and stayed at the Leaky Cauldron and I-"

"Wait. Your uncle threw you out of his car?" Dumbledore demanded, alarmed.

"Yeah. He said that he was still pissed about what happened last summer and that there was no way he was taking me back."

"Oh dear." Dumbledore walked over to a small silver device on a nearby table and tapped it with his wand. It released several puffs of colored smoke. "Oh my." The old man shook his head. "The blood wards are on the verge of collapse."

"What?"

"I'm afraid that I haven't been in my office much this summer. I've been quite busy preparing for events next year. Unfortunately, it means that I did not notice this device's warnings of the degradation of the wards I cast on your house thirteen years ago."

"So, I can't go back now?" Harry was struggling hard to suppress his delight.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm afraid not. No, in the current state, even if you were to stay there for the rest of the summer, it wouldn't do them much good."

"I suppose I'll have to find somewhere else to stay." Harry said, a broad smile on his face. He'd completely lost his effort to stay calm.

"Yes, well… We'll discuss this later. I'll look into some other options for you. Now, I have another matter to discuss with you. The Occlumency lessons I promised you."

"Oh, right! Excellent. The book you gave me was very helpful, but it stated that it was not a replacement for Occlumency. It isn't much help against a Legilimens, and it doesn't do much for controlling emotions, among other things."

"I see. Occlumency is a very difficult art to learn. It takes a great deal of time and mental pain. Unfortunately, the same events that kept me quite busy during the summer will also limit the amount of time I can spend tutoring you. I have personally taught Professor Snape, however, and I'd be happy to ask him to give you lessons."

Harry shook his head. "No, sir. Thank you for the offer, but I do not trust Snape."

"Professor Snape, Harry, and you really must put this hatred behind you."

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm really not the one you need to be talking to about this. I gave it some thought over the summer, and, really? I don't think I will ever be able to trust the man." Dumbledore opened his mouth to object, but Harry continued. "Yes, I understand that you trust him, though I can't imagine why. However, I personally will never be able to do so. The man is vile. He is biased and cruel in class. But what's worse? He doesn't even teach. He just gives us instructions. I have learned more about the making of potions from extracurricular books I read on a whim this summer than I have from Professor Snape. He actively permits attacks on our potions, which are extremely volatile, by his own students, and punishes us for defending ourselves. He doesn't even teach safety procedures.

It isn't just his teaching that's his problem. It was really this last year that cemented my opinion of him. Did you know that Neville Longbottom's boggart took the form of Professor Snape?" Harry looked Dumbledore in the eyes. "Can you imagine the kind of hate that you would have to show to make you a student's worst fear? I know that I can't.

But even that isn't the only problem I have with him. He has a personal hatred for me, because I look like my father! During my first class, he asked me three questions, only one of which was even in our first year textbook. He looks for any opportunity to punish me. Also, do you remember the end of last year? Snape completely ignored every argument that Ron, Hermione, and I made. He tried to get Sirius Kissed by a Dementor! What's more, he convinced the Minister that we were confounded, so the man wouldn't believe a word we said! A man willing to go so far on a schoolboy grudge is one that I cannot trust."

Harry sat back, breathing hard. He didn't mean to rant, but there was no way that he was taking extra lessons with Snape.

"I see…" And he truly had begun to see the relationship between his Potions professor and Harry. He'd have to think on this. "Very well. Since I did give you my word, assuming you still want to learn Occlumency?" At Harry's nod, he continued. "Then I will endeavor to make myself available once a week to teach you."

"Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it." Harry said, almost disbelievingly. For once, something was going right in his life. He should have known it was too good to last.

* * *

><p>Harry spent the rest of his summer at the Burrow, and, frankly, he wished he could head back to the Cauldron.<p>

Everyone seemed to be treating him differently. Most of the Weasleys were staying out of his way, as if the fact he had taken a life made him somehow… unclean. Ron would barely stay in the same room as him. Hermione was a bit better, but kept looking at him like she thought he was about to crack. She seemed to think that the killing was eating him up inside.

Ginny wasn't acting any differently than she had in the past. She still stared at him with adoration, in a way that made him sick, when she thought he wasn't looking. The one time he tried to start a conversation with her ended when she squeaked and ran off.

Fred and George were a bit better, but while they were the only two who really talked to him, they kept him at a bit of a distance.

With his treatment by the Weasleys as it was, Harry spent the rest of his summer reading the rest of his books. He made as many trips to Diagon Alley as he could, buying his own small supply of Floo Powder so he could do so on his own. He thought about just moving back into the Cauldron, but there were only a few more days left in the summer, and he couldn't really think of a way to do so without sounding impolite.

After his success with the wandless Patronus, Harry spent a good deal of time trying other spells, but even with the fake wand, he'd been unable to pull it off. Even the simplest wandless spells were almost completely out of his reach at the moment, aside from his Patronus, of course. He'd gotten in the habit of keeping one about half of Hedwig's size active as much as possible, in an effort to adjust his magic. If he used it enough, he could strengthen his magical core, or at least make his Patronus easier to maintain.

Harry used a small Patronus as a sort of animal servant, using it to fetch things for him, and the like. It was surprisingly useful, and by the time the summer was over, he could barely feel the drain from keeping a small one active.

Harry gestured at his bookbag, which he'd recently bought in Diagon Alley. It had a space expansion charm built in. A silver bird flew to the expanded bag and carried a new book to him, before replacing the book he'd finished.

One more day, and he'd be back at Hogwarts.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I hoped you all enjoyed Chapter 2. <strong>

**After thinking about it while writing this story, I realized that the only way Harry could have gotten away from the Dursleys for the summer was if Dumbledore didn't know about it, and I think the only way he wouldn't know is if he was out of the country. Like, oh say... visiting foreign schools to set up a tournament and dealing with the ICW, for both the Quidditch Cup and the riot that took place afterwards.**

**Yeah, I made a bit of a change to the Cruciatus. Namely, unless the caster ends the spell, you keep feeling the curse for a while. And by a while, I mean a LONG while.**

**I don't think that Hermione and the Weasley's are being too OOC. Harry killed a person, and they don't know how to deal with it. **

**A certain scene earlier made Harry a pretty powerful enemy. He's already tried to get his first little bit of revenge, though it was thwarted by Dumbledore. I suppose they were already his enemy, but now they're actively against him.**** I wonder if anyone will guess who it is? The current outline has him being revealed early chapter 4, so if anyone guesses, I'll let everyone know. **

**Next time: Awakened Flame: The Goblet of Fire, Harry draws his sword once more, and Hogwarts gets seriously shaken up.**

**I've been waiting for the next chapter. It's one of the first scenes I came up with when writing this story. I've seen a similar event in a few stories, but Harry's reaction is wholly unique.**

**Fun fact: Both this chapter and Temporal were released at 2:29:12 on 2/29/12.**

**Anyway, let me know what you all think! The more reviews I get for a story, the more likely I am to update that one sooner. Oh, and do me a favor and take a look at Temporal. **


	3. Awakened Fire

**Well, I had a bit of unexpected time to spare this weekend, so I managed to get out another chapter. I don't expect to get to update this quickly in the future. This one will throw some rather unique twists into things. **

**Now, for the reviews:**

**Thanks to: Alec McDowell, Wandless Wizard, brighteyes343, nativer28, mwinter1, Fox of the Blood Moon, codewarriorace, Lord Atreyu Emrys, call015, bensdad, jbfritz, m-f42, and blueEyre for reviewing.**

**Naginator: Yeah, Quirrell did die, but remember what Dumbledore said, about how he was dead the moment Voldemort possessed him, not to mention the fact that Harry thought Quirrell was still alive at the end. I don't think it ever sunk in.**

**nameless flamer: I don't think it's rushed. I spent the entire first chapter giving him time to learn. I am not a fan of the stories that spend twenty chapters just spelling out everything that Harry learned. I prefer to show, rather than tell. If you're talking about skipping through the canon parts, then, yeah, I am rushing through those. I don't want to rewrite the books. He's not a Gary Stu. Since when was he one dimensional?**

**Seraphinus: I agree completely. There shouldn't be too much. I won't be introducing any romance until the Ball, if I put any in at all.**

**WL Chastain: I agree. Coming upon an interesting story, only to find it hasn't been updated in years, is really irritating. A friend of mine had to stop, so I understand extenuating circumstances, but it's still annoying. I don't plan to make him superpowered, but he will be strong. **

**autumngold: Remember, they don't know he has to do that yet. I can totally see the same thing happening in the books. If Harry had killed someone at this point, I can see them stepping away from him, seeing him in a new, and poorer, light. I don't think they'd ever accept the need for lethal force.**

****moorejr: I'm glad you like it, and the Name of the Wind one of my three favorite books. I'd prefer not to raise the rating. I don't think cursing is enough for an M rating. I'm just trying to write Harry's reactions and, with the hand he's been dealt, he deserves to vent a bit. ****

**Rennerd: I agree. In this case, I don't think it's unreasonable that he gets over it pretty fast, since he was being tortured while it happened. It's hard to get sympathetic over killing someone when they hit you with a curse like the Cruciatus. Good guess, btw. You say 'doubtful', I say character assassination is effective. I did mention he has a new enemy, didn't I?**

**zyvanume: The first task is already written, and I don't want to spoil it. I will say that you had a good idea, but I haven't said everything about his abilities yet. I don't want to spoil the part about making objects.**

**Therio: I'm unlikely to rewrite Temporal, but the sequel might be in 3rd person. I haven't decided yet.**

**stealacandy: In this story, the user has to actually cancel the spell. Even if the caster is forced away, the aftereffects will still affect a person. There's a reason it's so bad. **

* * *

><p><strong>Awakened Flame<strong>

Harry sat in his empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express and sighed. He'd made an excuse about having to go to the bathroom in order to leave the compartment. He thought that Hermione, at least, might object to his leaving, so he'd just tell them he met someone, or something. He'd have to find someone to cover for him. Maybe that nice blonde girl with the magazine, Luna.

About halfway through the ride, Malfoy and his goons walked in, not long after the snack lady. It wasn't their usual form of harassment. In fact, it seemed almost like they were just making their way through the train. Unfortunately, they turned to look at him when he coughed a bit. Stupid chocolate frog enchantments.

When Malfoy turned to look at him, Harry was actually surprised. The look of unadulterated hatred on Malfoy's face was completely unlike the normal malevolent sneer he wore.

"Think you're funny, Potter?" Malfoy spat, his hand in his robes, where Harry knew the jerk kept his wand. "You think you can get away with what you-" He broke off mid sentence before continuing. "With killing Crabbe's father?"

Harry noticed that one of Malfoy's two goons had a similar look of hate on his face, though his facial expressions never seemed to differ much.

Harry stood, flicking his wrist to summon his wand to his hand. With barely a gesture from it, silver mist formed a towering bear, almost reaching the ceiling. It was at least twice as tall as Malfoy's minions.

"You want to make something of it, Malfoy?" Harry demanded. "As for you, Crabbe, I'd apologize for what happened, but your father and his friend tried to kill me. Your father tortured me. I can't bring myself to feel bad for defending myself." The tip of Harry's wand glowed a brilliant red and his bear let out a thunderous roar. "Now, get out of my compartment."

Malfoy's hateful glare was just as intense as the ass left the compartment, leaving Harry to wonder just why the blond was so pissed at him. Either way, the second the door slammed shut, Harry collapsed to the bench, releasing the Patronus, his breath caught in his chest. He might be able to perform the spell without much effort, silently and even wandlessly, but it was still draining.

He sighed as he leaned back and picked up another frog. Damn. If it cost him this much for one large Patronus, he needed to work on his core. If he didn't, he'd be forced to limit his use of his greatest weapon.

* * *

><p>"Alright, Harry. I have to ask you one last time. Are you sure you want to learn this? Occlumency is a complicated art, and it will not be pleasant to learn. As your instructor, I will be forced to delve within your memories. It will likely be one of the most painful and intrusive experiences you will ever have."<p>

"Worse than Voldemort?" Harry quipped. He'd been looking forward to these lessons all summer. He hadn't been back for more than a few days, and he was already sick of being in the castle. He had been spending most of his time in either the library or a vacant classroom, practicing spells. It seems that the person who had written about his trial, some bitch named Rita Skeeter, had emphasized the fact that Dumbledore had gotten him off. The article made him out to be a murderer. While no one talked about it around him, most people were giving him a wide berth.

"Harry, this is not a joking matter. To do this without the consent of you or your guardian is a crime known as mind-rape, and, on a minor such as yourself, it is punishable by no less than ten years in Azkaban. On occasions where multiple counts have been proven, the Dementor's Kiss is the most common punishment." Dumbledore said, his face grave.

Harry nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. I wasn't really trying to make this out to be less of a big deal, but we both know that Voldemort is going to be after me. Going on what I heard last year from the Dementors, he offered to spare my mother. That implies he was after me, for some reason. I have no intention of going down without a fight, and I need to know as much as I can to do so. I'm guessing Voldemort is a Legilimens?"

"Indeed. He was a natural."

"Then I need to know this, or I won't be able to protect myself from him."

"I suppose that you are right." Dumbledore sighed. He didn't like how easily Harry had accepted that he would have to fight against Tom in the future. He considered showing Harry the Prophecy, but decided against it. When Harry could protect his mind from Tom, he would be able to see it. Until then, it was too much of a risk. "First things first. Harry, I need to teach you how to clear your mind."

"Oh? You don't want to show me how it feels first?" He'd figured that knowing what he was looking for would help him know what he was defending himself from.

Dumbledore looked shocked. "Merlin, no! There is a reason that using Legilimency on a minor is such a crime! I could cause permanent damage to your mind, and cripple your ability to learn the mind arts. Even the basic Occlumency training will protect you from that." He took a deep breath. "No, I won't be trying any active Legilimency on you until you have mastered the first step. Now, that first step is to clear your mind. This sounds much simpler than it actually is. It is the basic technique behind all Occlumency…"

* * *

><p>Harry rubbed his forehead as he made his way through the castle. His headache was so bad that, for the first time, he'd gone to the Hospital Wing without being carried, to pick up a headache cure. Even that had only reduced it to a heavy throbbing, rather than a sharp pain.<p>

He still couldn't believe it had taken two full lessons, including meditation every night, for him to completely be able to clear his mind to Dumbledore's satisfaction. It really was a complicated process. It took not only an extreme amount of focus and will, but a specialized wandless application of magic. Since the magic never left his body, it was still difficult, but nowhere near the difficulty of true wandless magic. Eventually, he would be so accustomed to that particular form of magic that his mind would gain the ability to do so on its own, without needing to use any of his magic. Once he could do so, he would be considered to be an Occlumens.

He headed down, towards the Great Hall. Instead of actually entering the great room, he descended one floor, stopping at a painting of a fruit basket. He reached out with a hand and tickled the pear. It giggled and squirmed for a moment, before revealing a green doorknob.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see a legion of house elves. After hearing his stomach growl, Dumbledore had mentioned that they wouldn't mind fixing him up a snack, but he'd failed to mention the sheer number of them. He opened his mouth to say something, but was knocked back when something attacked him.

"What the-?"

"The Great Harry Potter Sir comes to see Dobby!" And sure enough, it was Dobby, the house elf he'd tricked Malfoy's father into setting free after the events of his second year.

"Oh… Hi, Dobby. I didn't know you were here."

"Oh, yes, Great Harry Potter Sir. Dobby was having difficulty finding jobs, due to Dobby's wanting of paying." Harry noticed the other elves, who'd seemed to be excited to see him, look away in disgust at the sound of Dobby's desire for pay. "But Professor Dumbledore offered Dobby a job, so Dobby is here now!"

"Oh, that's… great." Harry was genuinely happy that the elf had managed to find a place, but somewhere deep down, he couldn't help but worry. Two years ago, out of a genuine desire to keep him safe, the little elf had not only nearly gotten him expelled twice (once for using magic and once for closing the barrier to Platform 9¾, forcing him and Ron to fly to Hogwarts), but he'd broken Harry's arm with an enchanted bludger that had nearly killed him.

"I don't suppose you'd be able to get me something to eat, could you?" Harry asked hesitantly. Moments later, Dobby was dragging him to a small table and the elves were piling food on a plate for him. "Thanks, that's plenty." He commented, trying to stop the elf from giving him even more food. "I was just hoping for a small snack."

After he finished eating, he thanked the elves, and apologized for disrupting them, earning wide smiles from them. He was just thanking Dobby before he left, when he froze.

"Hey, Dobby. I don't suppose you know of a place where I could train my magic? I've been using empty classrooms where I can, but…" He trailed off at the sight of the elf bouncing up and down.

"Dobby knows of a perfect place, Great Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby announced excitedly. "It is called the Come and Go Room."

* * *

><p>The Come and Go Room, or the Room of Requirement, was absolutely amazing. It was, without a doubt, the single greatest feat of magic that Harry had ever seen. The room was literally anything the user could possibly want.<p>

It was even able to give him books. Dumbledore had given Harry his only tome on Occlumency to study, but with nothing more than a thought, the Room could give him others. Unfortunately, nothing from the room could be taken out of it. Even with that limitation, his studies were progressing rapidly. He didn't have to limit his requests for books to subject. Asking for 'a book with spells that would help me in a fight that I could learn at my current level' would give him an appropriate one.

He was able to practice his swordplay, building the necessary muscles through the use of a sword and animated practice dummies, all provided by the room. He spent pretty much every minute he could in the Room, practicing and training.

One of the best uses of the Room was to get rid of his stress. He'd just blast things, or cut them, or do something similar, until he felt better. Then, a simple thought would clear the room.

It was getting pretty bad in Gryffindor Tower. None of his friends really talked to him. The only one he'd even had a decent conversation with in the last week was Neville, and even he seemed to be wary of Harry. Rita Skeeter hadn't stopped slandering him after that first article. Her articles came out every few days like clockwork, filled with lies and unsubstantiated rumors. He wondered what he'd done to her to make her hate him so much.

He blasted a statue into dust, before conjuring a pack of wolf Patronuses to savage the rest of the room, causing him to collapse, lying on the floor. With a thought, the floor was replaced with a bed. He'd been working on his Patronus more than anything else, and it was showing. In the month since his discovery of the Room of Requirement, he'd increased his ability to perform it greatly. On the Hogwarts Express, one giant bear had left him exhausted. Now, even after an hour of practicing spellwork, he had been able to conjure four Patronuses that were each a little smaller than he was.

Normally, he'd be studying for another few hours, but he had to stop early today. He had one last lesson with Professor Dumbledore tonight. Tomorrow, the other two schools would arrive, and the Headmaster's time would be much more limited. Harry wasn't exactly pleased, since he could barely keep the old man out of his mind for more than half a minute. Despite the fact that Dumbledore had told him that it was good progress, Harry was not pleased. He needed to be better. He had to be.

* * *

><p>Harry sat in his usual spot at Gryffindor table. He sat at the corner closest to the Head table, and there was no one within three seats of him. Occasionally, Neville would sit with him, but today everyone was too excited. Harry looked over the Great Hall.<p>

The students from Durmstrang were seated with the Slytherins, and the ones from Beauxbatons were seated at the Ravenclaw table. In between the House tables and the raised Head table was a pedestal. The Goblet of Fire sat upon it, blazing brightly. Frankly, Harry just wanted to get this over with. He had absolutely no desire to participate in this stupid tournament. A thousand galleons was enough to live on for a year or two, maybe three if you were careful, but nowhere near enough for him to risk his life for. Maybe in the past the 'eternal glory' might have meant something, but after centuries, he doubted anyone would care.

"The champion for Durmstrang is…" Dumbledore said as the Goblet's flames turned red and a piece of paper shot out. "Viktor Krum!" Everyone clapped wildly for the Quidditch star. Harry joined them. He had real respect for the guy's skills on a broom and wondered if the teen's skills with a wand matched those with a broom.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is… Fleur Delacour!" Very few of the students from Beauxbatons applauded, though the few male students joined the Hogwarts students as the beautiful girl walked up to join Viktor Krum in the side room. Most of them were unable to shake off her Veela allure, but Harry was, and he clapped anyway. Clearly, she was more than just a pretty face.

"The champion for Hogwarts is…" Harry leaned against the table, slightly interested despite himself. He wondered who would get picked. Most people probably expected a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, but he wondered who the impartial judge would decide was the best possible competitor for Hogwarts.

Dumbledore seemed to be surprised by the name. He was waiting much longer to announce it than he had for the other two schools. Then, the man spoke and Harry was filled with rage. "Harry Potter!"

What the hell! Harry's fist slammed into the table, causing everyone who looked at him to jump slightly. He was infuriated. How the hell did his name get into the Goblet of Fire?

"Harry? Please join the other two competitors."

"Wait, you mean I'm actually stuck competing?" Harry demanded, ignoring the looks from the three schools.

"I'm afraid so, Harry. The moment your name came out of the Goblet, a binding contract was sealed. Please, go join the other two champions."

Harry was barely successful in using his fledgling Occlumency to suppress his rage as he stalked out of the Great Hall.

"Mr. Potter?" The two Headteachers asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Harry spat, barely restraining himself from cursing. "My name just came out of that Merlin-cursed Goblet."

The surprised look on the two adults' faces was wiped clean when Dumbledore entered the room.

"Harry? Is there something you'd like to tell me? Like, for example, why your name came out of the Goblet a second time?"

"What the fuck? Is that fucking piece of trash going to make me actually compete in this whole fucking competition? I shouldn't be in this stupid thing, Dumbledore!" Harry practically screamed.

"Please, like you didn't enter your name, little boy." Fleur said dismissively. "It will be most enjoyable teaching-"

"I've got your little boy right here, bitch." Harry spat, his wand out and blazing.

"Harry!" Dumbledore called. "Calm down."

Harry glared at the old man for a moment, before visibly trying to relax. "So I really have to participate?"

"Indeed. The Goblet has already been prepared. You must compete in all three tasks, or you will lose your magic, at the very least."

"Damnit." Harry cursed.

"So you're telling me that this… little boy, is the best Hogwarts has to offer?" Madam Maxine asked, with a laugh as she repeated her champion's insult.

Harry wanted to show the giant woman exactly what he thought of her opinion, but was able to suppress it.

"Please, Potter is nothing." Snape said as he entered the chamber, along with most of the Hogwarts staff. "He's been lying and cheating ever since he stepped foot in the castle. I'm sure he found a way to cheat his way into the Tournament as well." He fingered his wand. "I seem to remember a clause about replacement champions if the current one is too hurt to participate. If you want a real champion, I'd be happy to-"

"Severus!" Dumbledore snapped, while McGonagall and Flitwick both stared in shock at their colleague. "That is enough!"

Harry glared hatefully at the sulking Potions Master. He couldn't believe that the man had just said that, and in front of Dumbledore, no less.

The other two champions seemed to be pleased by his selection, if he was reading them correctly. After all, what threat could a fourth year pose? ''

* * *

><p>"I can't believe this, Professor." Harry said. They'd retired to the Headmaster's office after the commotion had died down.<p>

"You really didn't enter your name? I believe my age line would stop most students, but I'm sure that you could find your way around it." Harry was surprised, and rather pleased, by the Headmaster's admission.

"Do you really think I would do that?" Harry demanded. "No, I have no desire to be in this damn tournament. I'll swear a oath on my magic to that regard, if you want."

"No, I believe you Harry, but I had to ask."

"You're sure there's no way we could get around this? Maybe make the tasks three games of rock, paper, scissors, or something. We could get those out of the way tomorrow, then chose new champions the day after."

"An ingenious idea, Harry, but I'm afraid it wouldn't work. The three tasks have already been chosen, and the Goblet was enchanted with those three tasks. We could not change them, even if we wanted to."

"Then… How does the contract define participation? Could I just try some first year spell or something, then give up?"

"That… That would actually work." Dumbledore said, a smile on his face. "That's a good idea, Harry. It would keep you safe."

The more Harry thought about the idea, however, the more he disliked it. Dumbledore had devoted his life to the school and it was the first place Harry could call home. While this year was unpleasant, he'd had three good years here, minus certain life-threatening events. It felt like a disservice to Hogwarts. This tournament wasn't just about the champions. It was designed to show the skill of the school's students, and the quality of the education.

"Maybe I will participate." Harry said softly. "I'd feel bad about just bowing out. It just… I dunno… I'm Hogwarts' only champion, and…"

"I understand, Harry." Dumbledore said with a sigh. "It is your choice. Luckily, the contract can only be sealed once per person, so you will not have to perform each task twice." He hesitated, before he drew out two pieces of paper. Both of them had Harry's name on them. One of them had Hogwarts beneath his name. "I suppose I should show you this." He tapped the one with just Harry's name on it with his wand, and another name faded into view beneath it. "Back during the final days of the Tournament, there was talk of adding other schools to the Tournament, in order to revitalize it. The danger issue was never changed, however, so the Tournament was shut down. However, the Goblet was recalibrated to accept nominations from other schools. As information on the Goblet is not restricted, all it would have taken is a good bit of research to figure it out." He tapped the paper with his finger.

"This plan was ingenious, if I do say so myself. All it would have taken was a cleverly worded confundus charm, and you would have been the only applicant for a fourth school." He indicated the other, with a gesture. "This one, however, simply offered you as a possible contestant for Hogwarts. The parchment bears residue indicating that someone enchanted the paper itself with compulsions, but they were burned away by the Goblet. They might have had an older student enter you name. Not only was the attempt barely planned out, but it placed you in competition with every other student who entered their name for the school." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, but the Goblet selected you for Hogwarts because you were the best choice." He shook his head. "A fourth year was considered to be superior to our best seventh years by an impartial judge."

Harry chuckled along with him, though he realized what the two very different attempts meant. Two different individuals had entered him into the Triwizard Tournament. If Moody was right, then two parties wanted him dead.

* * *

><p>Harry stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, pissed off.<p>

"What do you mean you won't let me in? I gave you the password!"

"Gryffindor is not a house for cheaters." She retorted. "Prefect Johnson asked me to keep you out until they call for you."

Damn. Harry cursed mentally. Angelina had been the favorite to be champion. She'd be pissed that she wasn't chosen. Even worse, she'd been passed over for a Fourth year.

Unbeknownst to Harry, a spark of flame flickered in his eyes as the ring on his right hand became visible. The stone was a brilliant scarlet ruby, held in the mouth of a golden lion. The ruby was engraved with the crest of Gryffindor.

"I am Harry James Potter-Slytherin, Heir to the Flame of Gryffindor." Harry said in a regal voice. It was like his own, but somehow different. He raised his fist and she gasped upon seeing the crest engraved on the ruby. "I banish you from your position as Guardian of my Tower."

The portrait let out a scream as she vanished with a flash of fire. The flame vanished from Harry's eyes and the ring became invisible. He climbed through the hole.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Angelina demanded coldly. "We told the Fat Lady to keep you out until we were done with our censure meeting."

Censure. Merlin, she really was pissed, wasn't she? To censure me would require at least a two-thirds majority of the house to vote for it. For as long as the censure lasted, he would not be considered a member of the house. He would not be allowed access to Gryffindor communal property or facilities. Points could not be taken from him. It was essentially a disowning.

"Not that it matters." She continued. "We just finished anyway." She handed him the paper. The signatures were there, but they were obscured, so no one would know who had voted for it. It was a protective measure to prevent anyone from taking revenge. "Hand over your badge." She ordered, extending a hand.

This time, Harry heard a lion's roaring through his mind, as flames obscured his vision.

"No. No, I don't think I will." Harry spat. He raised his fist again, showing off the ring, heralding gasps from everyone present. "I am Lord Harry James Potter-Slytherin. I have inherited the Flame of Gryffindor. I do not accept traitors and cowards in MY House." The ring was now visibly blazing, emanating a golden flame.

Harry pressed the ring to the paper. The enchantments hiding the signatures from view faded away, revealing each name.

"I strip the protection of my House from each and every one of you. You are no longer Gryffindors." Slowly, each name turned to the color of flame. As it did, the signer's badge and the coloring on their robes caught fire. The moment the flames had consumed any signs that they had been Gryffindors, they, themselves, were enveloped in flames. One by one, every single person who had signed the censure vanished from the house.

The moment it was done, the paper fell to the floor, and Harry blinked. He looked around, slightly surprised. The only one left from his year was Neville. In the year below, only Colin and Ginny, the latter of which was giving him a look that made him sick to his stomach, remained. Everyone above him had signed as well. The firsties weren't allowed to vote, and a couple of the second hadn't. All in all, there were barely more than ten members of Gryffindor House left.

"What just happened?" A dazed Harry asked, looking down at the ring on his hand with shock.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I think that should raise some questions. And yes, Harry's name is Harry James Potter-Slytherin. The Gryffindor line became the Potter line. Becoming Head of House meant something different in this case.<strong>

**I hate stories where Harry gets a unique ability, but can't use it for some reason. That won't happen here.**

**I've seen the idea of a censure from a bunch of stories, but the first one I remember seeing it in was jbern's The Lie I've Lived. I did mention earlier that I was taking the whole Heir thing in a new direction.**

**You might argue that some people wouldn't sign the petition, but I think that putting an obscuring enchantment on the paper would help their doubts. No one would even know how many people signed, let alone who did.**

**According to JKR, the multiple for Patronus is Patronuses, though I think that Patroni sounds better.**

**Next time: Fallout: Harry learns what being Heir to a Founder means, second Sortings, and preparations.**

**Well, I hope everyone enjoyed it. I know I did. Let me know what you think, and who's new house you want to know. **

**Fun fact: At time of first release: Chapter 1: 5678 words. Chapter 2: 4444 words. Chapter 3: 5225 words.**


	4. Fallout

**It's been awhile, hasn't it? Well, this is the second time I've written this chapter in the last week. I had it nearly done, when a coworker at my internship accidentally unplugged my computer. Since I still hadn't gotten my replacement battery, it shut down and I lost everything. For some reason, when I got my computer fixed, they disabled the autosave. My battery arrived on Friday, and I decided to write it again. I was a lot happier with the first draft, but I want to get something up. It's mostly an info dump, explaining a lot of things and setting up some stuff. I think I managed a bit of character development, which I realize this has been a bit weak on. **

**This chapter is mostly dialogue, which, quite frankly, is not my area of expertise, so I hope it came out alright. There are around a thousand words on the re-sorting section, which I'm a bit worried about. If it's as bad as I think it might be, I can rewrite it (and probably will at some point), but I really wanted to get started on the good stuff (next chapter is when the fun parts begin). I hope to get the next chapter out pretty soon. Please, tell me if you liked it or hated it.**

**By the way, I'm really sorry about the alert that was sent out earlier in the week. It was a mistake on my part. I accidentally uploaded the latest chapter of EOTS to this story.**

**A ton of reviews this time, which pleases me greatly: **

**Thanks to: Tolkare, shugokage, naruto2829, KafeiDetour, Shin'en of the Chaotic Destiny, WL Chastain, scottss, Naginator, EP, autumngold, anon, ILikeComps, Sakura Lisel, johnjohn, GinaStar, loiosh311, Seraphinus, BeautifulMidnighter, jbfritz, Potterfan1992, xman2999, Spring Raine, Catti666, Tha Golden Boy, TwilightEclps, ShadowStorm666, GenoBeast, CrescentMelody, iPlayBassoon, thmanwithnoname, SlytherinLover143, loretta537, southern-reader, mwinter1, miner249, RebelliousOne, Lupinesence, chandra4u, Kine X, lientjuhh, Guest, iitrnr and josh148513 for reviewing.**

**Call0013: Frankly, he can make anything. As to the sand question, well, all I'll say is that he's not capable of it at the moment. In the future? Who knows? (I do!)**

**athenakitty: Angelina Johnson was probably the ringleader. That's just who I can see having the popularity to pull it off, plus she was mentioned as having entered her name.**

**So you want to be an Author: I imagine every year as having somewhere around six to ten students. There are probably a bit more than a dozen. I was being dramatic. No, the fat lady isn't dead. She has been kicked out of her position. I might mention what happened to her later. As to where everyone will go? I've got about a thousand words describing it here.**

**Guest: Sorry! You're right, it was not a flame, I've seen much worse. I tried to explain a bit about the personality here (I didn't want to reveal everything, but I did give a short explanation as to how his personality has begun to change). I tried to show a bit of what he feels about his relationships here, but that will show a lot more later. Thank you for your constructive criticism. BTW, the reason that your reviews feel like a flame is because you only mention the negative. Tell me what you like about it!**

**brighteyes343: Harry, Neville, Colin, Ginny, and a handful of nameless first and second years.**

**Winged Seer Wolf: Good question! I didn't really think about the prefects. I suppose they lose their positions. Something to think about, I guess.**

**the DragonBard: Sorry you feel that way. I just didn't want to see a ton of reviews suggesting I pair her with him. Plus, I rant sometimes... It happens.**

**Teufel1987: I'm probably going to do some revisions and edits once I get a bit more here, and that's definitely a change I'll make. It is a bit confusing. As to Filch, I choose to ignore some parts of canon, and that is one that makes very little sense to me. Too easy to abuse. If you need an explanation, then someone stored cleaning supplies in there at one point. You can remove things that were put inside, just nothing that the Room made. His ratings aren't as high as in canon, unfortunately. I think I've seen a couple, but I can't name any names. I've never heard of that story before.**

**mithrilandtj: I know. I thought I mentioned that I was ignoring that fact. In this story, it's just a spell that's borderline dark arts. I didn't feel like using a translator to come up with a name for a dark cutting curse. Snape didn't make anything of value in this world.**

**Worldmaker: I'm sorry you feel that way. I plan to use most of the mechanics, including whatever cliches I put here, in a way I haven't seen used before. I dislike the combined personality, traits, and history given to a character.**

**Katzztar: What if they signed the petition out of loyalty to their friends? **

**ep: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Aside from a bit of Spanish, the only language I really speak is English. **

**CocoP: In canon, you'd be right. Here, I decided to make it just a normal borderline dark spell.**

**segir: The Flame of Gryffindor is explained in this chapter. It's sort of going to be a big deal, so some of the details will be kept until later, but I hope everyone understands from my explanation. **

**Lightningblade49: Who says he doesn't remember?**

* * *

><p><strong>Anyway, let me know what you think. If it's too much, let me know. If you hate it so much you won't finish it, please tell me, so I can rewrite it.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Fallout<strong>

"Well, this is most certainly a surprise, Mr. Potter. Or should I say, Mr. Potter-Slytherin?" McGonagall asked a sheepish Harry. They were in her private office, which Harry had noticed for the first time after the attempted censure. The door had just materialized in the common room. According to McGonagall, only those with Prefect badges were able to see the door. It was connected to the Head of Gryffindor quarters.

"I'm not sure what just happened." Harry confessed. "It was sort of like something took control of me. I mean, I knew what I was doing, but I didn't." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this, am I?"

"No, Mr. Potter. You're being quite confusing." She replied calmly. Harry was surprised at how calm she was.

"Look, all I know, is that it has something to do with this ring." Harry indicated the Gryffindor ring, which he made visible for her. He could still feel a dull pulsing from it. "I could feel this weird heat coming from it, and the next second I'm a passenger in my own body. It got a lot more intense when I started using that 'Flame of Gryffindor' stuff."

"The Flame of Gyffindor?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I heard you mention it, but are you saying that you are actually capable of using Gryffindor's Flame?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Godric Gryffindor was a legendary battle-mage. His skills with his sword were second to none, and he was a remarkably powerful wizard, even for his time. He was said to possess a unique ability that has become known as the 'Flame of Gryffindor'. He was most mysterious on the subject, and there aren't many records on it. We do know that he was able to somehow infuse it into his sword. With it, he was able to do a number of things thought impossible, including cut through magical wards thought indestructible. It is said that the Flame could burn magic itself. According to the legend, by the time of his death, he did not bother casting other spells, as he was able to channel his magic through his Flame to create any effect he desired. The spell he used is still known now, though it is considered to be among the darkest of magics. Back then, of course, very little magic was truly considered forbidden."

"What spell did he use?"

"It is now called Fiendfyre. You won't find much about it outside of the Restricted Section. It is incredibly dangerous, and nigh-impossible to control. Back then, it seems that they had a much easier time manipulating it. Mages as powerful as the Founders could wield it as easily as a simple Incendio." She was exaggerating a bit, but now that much.

"Huh…" Harry trailed off, his mind racing. So, Godric Gryffindor had possessed unique abilities with this Fiendfyre. Were they similar to his powers over the Patronus? He'd have to ask Professor Dumbledore if he had any notes on the subject. Maybe check the Room of Requirement for more information… He broke off his train of thought as he heard McGonagall speak. A strange heat that had risen within him died away.

"-tter? Mr. Potter? Is something wrong?" She asked again.

"Sorry Professor." Harry replied. "I got lost in thought. What did you say?"

"I asked if I could take a look at that ring of yours."

"Sure." Harry said casually, reaching down to his hand and tugging at the ring. To his surprise, it wouldn't budge.

"So it is bonded to you…" McGonagall mused. At her gesture, he extended his hand over her desk. She raised her wand and waved it above the ring, murmuring spells. They sounded vaguely similar to some of the basic detection spells that Harry knew, though obviously the professor was using much more complicated spells. He saw something flash within the ruby and looked closer.

"Interesting. I recognize maybe half of these enchantments. Perhaps Filius might know more. Clearly, the ring was designed to impart certain standards of behavior into the bearer. I suppose it was to ensure that an heir would not be taken advantage of. I suspect that it might possess other properties to protect itself. From what I can tell, it is completely benign. I am detecting something else there, however." She paused. "I assume you are wearing the Potter ring?"

"And the Slytherin one." Harry said absently, still focusing on the ruby. Now that he was concentrating on it, he saw flashes of fire within the red depths of the stone.

"What?" She demanded. "Are you saying that you hold the ring of the Head of House Slytherin?"

"Yeah." He nodded, finally pulling his attention from the ring. A moment later, the Gryffindor ring was replaced with the Slytherin one. He shivered as he saw it undulate slightly on his finger. Was it alive?

"How?" She breathed, absolutely stunned.

"Well, according to the goblin I spoke to, I was able to claim the House from its current heir by right of Conquest."

She slumped over. "You are impossible." She sighed, before rising to her feet. "I am going to leave now, before my Soothing Solution wears off." Well, that explained why she was so calm, at least. The Soothing Solution was a variant of the Calming Potion, and though it was less effective, it lacked the addictive properties of the more potent potion.

"But this is your room!" Harry exclaimed.

"Did you think that the term Head of the House of Gryffindor was just a title? This room belongs to the current Head of House, or Lord, in your case. It's yours now."

With that said, McGonagall made to exit the room, using the exit to the greater castle, rather than the one that led into the common room. She stopped briefly. "Oh, and the Headmaster would like to see you." With that parting shot delivered, she slipped out of the room, headed for her new private room.

* * *

><p>Harry sighed as he made his way up to the gargoyle on the seventh floor for the second time that night. It was rather late now, and all he wanted was to go to sleep.<p>

He came to a stop in front of the gargoyle, only to stop, as a red glow caught his eye. He glanced down and saw the Gryffindor ring had appeared on his finger again, the ruby glowing like the sun. A beam of red light lanced out, striking the stone. Harry could only stare as the stone transformed.

Harry watched in tired disbelief as the gargoyle, now made entirely of ruby, stepped aside. He glanced down at the ring on his finger. How many other surprises would the thing have for him? He'd barely even heard of a magical item having so many different properties.

He trudged his way up the stairs to the Headmaster's office. He yawned as he knocked on the door. A moment later, the door swung open. Harry walked into the room, before slumping into the chair he had vacated just hours earlier.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore." He said. "I heard you wanted to-" He yawned again. "To see me."

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Tired, are we, Harry?"

"You could say that." He nodded, barely resisting the urge to yawn again.

"Would you like me to cast an Invigoration Charm on you?"

"Yes please."

The old man's wand shot off a jet of light at Harry, who felt warmth flood him, clearing his head. The ring pulsed on Harry's finger, and the Boy Who Lived knew that, had he said no to Dumbledore's request, it would have somehow protected him.

"Now, would you happen to know why more than forty students and their luggage suddenly appeared in the Great Hall, completely bereft of the protection of the school's wards?"

"Um… Yeah. Long story short, they tried to censure me for 'cheating'. I was made head of Gryffindor house over the summer. According to Professor McGonagall, the ring was made with the ability to protect its wearer from betrayal, so…"

"Godric Gryffindor was the first Headmaster." Dumbledore mused. "As a Founder, I suppose that he would understand them better than any Headmaster since, although there is evidence that he had no significant skills with wards."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "I suppose having access to Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin would help him get a better understanding, even if he didn't know much about them himself."

"Speaking of Slytherin…"

"Do I need to have my new rooms checked for listening charms?" Harry muttered. "Yes, I was able to claim Lordship over House Slytherin as well. Right of Conquest and all that."

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand that the Gryffindor ring has a number of abilities. I assume that the Slytherin ring has some rather unique properties as well?"

"I'm not actually sure." He shrugged. "I know it can speak, but it hasn't said anything since I claimed it. It didn't really respond to any more Parseltongue I used. But then again, I wasn't really aware of the Gryffindor ring having any really special abilities until tonight."

"Hmm…" Dumbledore hummed, obviously having an idea.

"What?" Harry demanded. Dumbledore glanced at him. "I know that look. What are you thinking?"

"How much did Professor McGonagall tell you about the Head of House position?"

"Not much. She said that, for some reason, I was the Head of House now, but she didn't go into much detail. She said something about a Soothing Solution…" He trailed off.

Dumbledore chuckled. "There is a rather large difference between the Professor's former position, and your own. A Lord of a Founder's house hasn't been seen since House Ravenclaw died out a couple hundred years ago. Part of the nature of the wards is Family magic. When a student is Sorted into a House, they are adopted into a House as a sort of vassal. The official term is student, created by the Founders themselves. That position is how the wards attach to them. A Lord has far more authority than the Heads of Houses. It takes two and a Head of House to overturn any decision from the Headmaster."

Dumbledore explained how the wards interacted with students. A number of wards available to the Headmaster are designed to avoid members of a Founders House, preventing them from affecting the students. For example, one set of wards were designed to be activated if the castle were to be invaded, the attackers could be repelled without harming a single student.

The Hogwarts wards are utterly unique, due to the way that they interact with people.

"Right now, the forty-odd students in the Great Hall cannot even get into the castle proper. They are uninvited guests, and are effectively trapped until someone with the appropriate authority gives them permission to leave. Without the protection granted by the wards, I can't allow them to leave. Did you ever wonder why there are almost never any permanent injuries? Even with the various explosions during potions class, and the dangerous spells from Defense against the Dark Arts class? The wards protect students from the various hazards in the school. Even the moving stairs can be lethal. Merely being allowed to enter from the front door provides protection from the various basic hazards."

Harry yawned again. "So, your saying they all need to get Sorted again?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Have you been sleeping properly, Harry?" When he nodded, Dumbledore frowned. "Harry, the Invigoration Charm is designed to allow a person to go thirty six hours without even feeling the loss of sleep. I cast one on you less than thirty minutes ago, and you're already yawning."

Harry nodded. "I don't know. I just feel really tired." He shrugged. "Is there anything else you need?"

"We can talk another day. Go to bed, Harry."

Harry nodded his thanks to his mentor, before making his way out of the office, barely keeping himself from stumbling down the stairs.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Harry woke up feeling insanely energized. He was barely able to sit still long enough for Neville to come down to the common room. As the shy boy was the only one to stand by him, Harry felt like he needed to get to know the other boy better.<p>

"You never came up last night." Neville commented.

"Yeah, turns out that becoming Lord Gryffindor means that I get McGonagall's room." He said.

"What?" Neville demanded, completely confused.

Harry gave the other boy a quick recap of everything that had happened the previous night, plus a bit of what happened last summer. Once he finished, the two of them exited the common room. Neville glanced back at the wall that had once held the Fat Lady. Instead of the flat wall with a hole to be covered by a portrait, there was a large statue of a swordsman, with the wall forming a semi-circle behind him.

"So… What are you going to do?" Neville asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You said that Dumbledore is going to be pulling out the Sorting Hat again, so he can re-Sort everyone that signed the censure, right? Well, from what I know of wards like this, you have to choose to accept anyone the Hat picks. What if the Hat sends everyone back to Gryffindor?"

"Um…" Harry considered the question. "I really don't know. I suppose I probably will, unless Ron or Hermione gets sent over here. Johnson's a given, of course. Maybe a few others." He shrugged. "Dumbledore said that he'd talk with the Hat so I could avoid having to make a decision as much as possible, but…"

Neville nodded. "It's up to you, Harry. I wouldn't want to have to make a decision like this."

* * *

><p>The two boys entered the Great Hall, quickly taking a seat at the nearly empty Gryffindor table. The first thing Harry noticed was what amounted to a solid wall of glares. Almost everyone who had been expelled from the house was looking at him from where they stood by one of the walls. Most of them looked outraged, though a few of the younger students were a bit tearful. Every single one of them looked absolutely exhausted. Harry suspected that one function of the wards was to prevent them from getting any sleep at all.<p>

Harry was a bit pissed at the hateful glares. They were the ones who had tried to kick him out for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Even the sad looks from his old friends failed to move him. They had voted against him. He wouldn't be making any exceptions for them.

Dumbledore arrived about fifteen minutes after Harry and Neville, and the Great Hall was completely packed, far more so than Harry had ever seen during a breakfast meal. Even the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students were there, rather interested in what was going on.

"Dumbledore had each Head of House ensure that all of their students were here. He called me this morning, but he'll probably call you in in the future." McGonagall informed him on her way to the Staff Table, having walked in just a minute or two before Dumbledore. She was carrying a three-legged stool that Harry recognized from the Sortings.

The Headmaster placed the Sorting Hat onto the stool, before beginning to speak. "I'm afraid that, last night, quite a sad event occurred. I cannot go into details, but I'm afraid that the majority of students from one of our Houses must be Sorted again. For those of you who have enjoyed your time here, you will understand exactly how tragic it is. Your House has been your family for years, and having to leave it can be quite hard. For our guests, who have never experienced the joy of being a member of a Hogwarts House, I hope you can try to understand how important this is to our students here. Please, try not to press the students about what happened over the last night."

Of course, just the arrival of the Sorting Hat had started whispering all over the hall. After Dumbledore's announcement, the whole hall was loud with comments and questions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were looking rather excited. Even the two Headteachers of the schools seemed pretty interested. The Sorting was a rather famous event, after all. Knowing what he did now about how intimately the Hat was linked to Hogwarts' unique wards, he could understand the interest.

Professor McGonagall pulled out a scroll, the same one she read from during the Sorting Feast every year. Magically updated, the document contained the names of every unsorted school age person in the castle. The scroll was designed to ignore students from other schools, so the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were not included in the list.

One by one, McGonagall read off the names of the former Gryffindor students in alphabetical order. Surprisingly, after a couple of minutes on the stool, Katie Bell, the first name on the list, was also the first student Sorted back to Gryffindor. Harry knew that Dumbledore had impressed upon the Hat the need to avoid Gryffindor as much as possible, since they'd just left it. Only those the Hat considered to be truly worthy would be allowed in.

Harry wasn't that surprised. Katie had always been pretty brave. He suspected that the Hat had been debating between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw for her. She looked to him, obviously hoping that he would let her back in. He thought about it for a brief moment, before giving a nod. He was actually more annoyed with her for turning on him, since she knew him from their years on the Quidditch team together, but in honor of their years of friendship, he'd be the bigger person and let her back in.

Of the seventh year students, most actually ended up in Slytherin, with a few heading to Ravenclaw. One went to Hufflepuff. With seventeen year old students about to take their NEWTS and graduate, they were full of ambition. Most of the fifth and sixth year students were split between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

None of Harry's yearmates came back to Gryffindor. Lavender Brown was the first ex-Gryffindor to join Hufflepuff, followed by Dean and Seamus. Parvati Patil, interestingly enough joined her sister in Ravenclaw after briefly being a hatstall.

When Hermione sat on the stool, the Hat had barely touched her head before crying out "Ravenclaw!". She gave him one last tearful look, before running to her new House's table. She squeezed her way in between two Beauxbatons students, so the other Ravenclaws wouldn't be able to talk to her. Harry felt a twinge of guilt, before ruthlessly crushing it.

Most of the younger students got to come back. Their personalities hadn't changed much in the past year or two, though a couple went to Hufflepuff. Finally, it got down to the Weasleys.

Fred was the first to be Sorted. The Hat took nearly fifteen minutes, before placing him in Slytherin. He nodded to Harry as he removed the Hat, managing to convey his apologies to the Boy-Who-Lived before heading to his new table. It wasn't particularly surprising, Harry told Neville. The twins had always been pretty ambitious, after all.

George barely had a chance to touch the Hat before it sent him off to join his twin. Then, it was Ron's turn. Ron spent nearly twenty minutes under the Hat, before it finally muttered Slytherin, utterly half-heartedly.

"It probably couldn't decide where to put him." Harry muttered darkly to Neville. "He doesn't really have traits from any of the Houses." Harry knew he was being a bit uncharitable to his former friend, but the betrayal of the first friend he'd ever had was cutting a bit deep.

He looked away from the green and silver table to glance up and down the one he was sitting at. There were just over two dozen people sitting at it. Meanwhile, the other tables were incredibly packed.

Dumbledore clearly noticed this as well, and gestured, causing the tables to elongate, giving more room for the students at the three overly packed tables. At his request, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students relocated to the nearly empty Gryffindor table.

* * *

><p>Harry didn't even get halfway through Charms class that morning, before a summons arrived from the Headmaster. After receiving permission from Professor Flitwick, he packed up his things and left.<p>

He saw a couple of the former sixth year Gryffindors headed towards him, so he ducked into a side passage, making his way up to the Headmaster's office through secret passages. He wanted nothing to do with any of them. To his surprise, the gargoyle hopped aside the moment it saw him, allowing him entrance into the office.

"You are allowing one boy to control this school! The board of governors, and the Ministry, will not allow this!" A voice Harry knew and loathed practically snarled. Sure enough, he saw Lucius Malfoy standing opposite Dumbledore

"I'm afraid that I have no say in this." Dumbledore replied blandly. "Ah, Harry!"

"Potter." Malfoy snapped. "I have no desire to see you at all, so let's make this quick. By order of the Minister of Magic and the Board of Governors, you are to hand over the Gryffindor ring immediately. Your decision to remove the students from the" His face twisted slightly. "noble House of Gryffindor is repealed. You will most certainly not be allowed to take up Lordship of the House of Gryffindor."

Harry glared at the older man. "First of all, weren't you kicked off the Board of Governors?"

"Mr. Malfoy has been named as the Minister's Liason to the Board, giving him an honorary position on it." Dumbledore filled in for him, trying to mediate. In Harry's mind, he could hear a lion's roaring, and saw flame.

"Whatever. Secondly, you have no authority to do that. I looked over succession laws this summer. The laws are ironclad. I was accepted by the Lord's ring, and I have accepted the position. The Ministry has no right to interfere with the right of succession. I am Lord Potter, also Lord Gryffindor." Harry spat. "And there's not a chance in hell you're touching the ring. As a Lord's ring, you'd have more right telling me to cut out my own eyes. What's more, even with the backing of the Board, you can't repeal a single decision I've made. As Lord, the choice to expel someone from my family's protection is completely my own."

Malfoy glared back at Harry. "You won't get away with this, brat! The Ministry won't stand for Hogwarts being controlled by a little shit like you!"

"Go to hell, Malfoy." Harry spat. "Do you have any other business with me, or will you get the hell out? I'd like to speak with the Headmaster."

"You'll pay for this." The blond man hissed. As he turned to stalk away, Harry saw something out of the corner of his eye. He palmed his wand, muttering "Finite Incantatem" The spell flew true and washed over Malfoy, who whirled around.

Harry barely choked back a gasp of realization. With his glamour dispelled, Malfoy's face had an ugly scar, beginning just below his left eye, coming across his nose and cheek to end just below his right ear. The Malfoy lord glared furiously at him. He nearly pulled the snake headed wand from his cane before glancing at Dumbledore. He turned and, with a swirl of his cloak, exited the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I hope everyone liked it. I know it's a lot of explanations, but they will be necessary in the future. I wonder how many people managed to connect the dots. I'm going to try and get another chapter out as soon as possible.<strong>

**I hope that this fixes some people's doubts about cliches. I've never seen anything like this happen before in a story.**

**Harry's exhaustion will be important in the future. Really, I should have called this chapter 'Explanations'.**

**Next time, Confrontations and Consequences: People find out about Harry's new position and have a lot to say about it. Meanwhile, the shadow of the first task looms closer and closer. **

**Please, let me know what you think. I'm not really happy with this chapter, but if people like it, I won't waste my time rewriting it.**


	5. Confrontations and Consequences

**Well, it's been a little while, hasn't it? There are a variety of reasons, including my work schedule being increased to 12-hours after my last update, and now the resuming of school, but I won't go into more detail. I've been working on some other chapters, but I keep deciding that I didn't like what I've written, so I rewrite them again. I've written chapter 2 of Sunlight Chakra 3 or 4 times now, for instance, and I'm still not happy. I'll probably be putting up some new stories soon.**

**Reviews:**

**Vote on my new poll if you care about how I respond to reviews.**

**Thanks to**: **writergirl123456789, matrim cuthon, lightningblade49, I love cute things, ShadowBasilisk, ShadowStorm666, Spring Raine, Wandless Wizard, ILikeComps, mwinter1, enapace, Loiosh311, lordamnesia, Lupinesence, guest, eric, guest, femalefarrier, Sblck, Gabriel1128, michaeldavidgeng, Rake1810, Sheeba Johnson, shebhendu dutta, The Retired Pokemon Master, and jbfritz for reviewing. **

**Tha Golden Boy: No, just Katie. Sorry, not that many reactions yet. He's pretty much running away from his old housemates at the moment.**

**sanyal: Thanks for the advice, sorry if I don't follow it all. I have bad habits, but I'll try and cut down.**

**Mythic12: Harry's more worried about the first task than he was in canon. He doesn't have time to deal with Slytherin right now. Plus, since it's a good Dumbledore, he can't just kick Snape out. They'll deal with the situation, but not yet.**

**Gman64: Like I said in the last response, considering his relation with Dumbledore, he'll have to deal with the Slytherin situation in a more subtle way. **

**Teufel1987: Yeah, Lucius is normally more cunning than this, but he's a bit pissed, considering he has to wear a glamour for two years (explained later). He assumes Harry is an ignorant muggle-raised half-blood, and hasn't been given any reason to doubt that. It's not really a rival, I just wanted to see if people would try to connect the dots and figure out who his 'secret' enemy was (not really a secret anymore). Not many people realize that he's head of Slytherin yet. The former Gryffindors didn't really pay attention to that part, and he hasn't made a declaration to anyone else yet. **

**mithrilandtj: You'll see first thing this chapter.**

**Genericrandom: Thanks for the suggestion. It's in the new poll. I'm not trying to pad the word count, I just don't want to ignore my reviewers. I understand the wanting more story, and I'm sorry this one is so short, I just wanted to put something out. I considered Hufflepuff for them, but I really think that they'd be either Gryffindor or Slytherin.**

**Hellsmaji: Theoretically, he could multitask, but he still only has two eyes and two hands. Have you ever tried reading two books? I have. Even if you could split your mind to focus on each, it's really tough.**

**Kenchi: I always figured that either the heirs were hidden, or he couldn't kill them anyway. Here, it wouldn't matter if he killed the Potters, for instance, because, even though they're the heirs of Gryffindor, they had to pass a test to gain their status as a magical heir. And, in this case, Riddle was the blood heir of Slytherin, but wouldn't have passed the test to become the magical heir. In my story, some forms of magic, like magical heritages and Hogwarts, are sentient, and enslaving the Heirs wouldn't do him much good.**

**Venpex: Yeah, I write action better than I do dialogue and setup, so it probably seems like a less evolved style. You're not the first to ask about the snakes. The thing is, Dumbledore placed Snape as Head of Slytherin, so he can't just kick the bat out without undermining the headmaster. The two will work something out after the first task. **

**GL: Yeah, I know what you mean, but I'm going to try and make the canon tasks different, at least for Harry. The idea in this story is that things are the same up until the divergence point (Harry getting thrown out of the car in London). I figure that the tasks were set up a long time in advance. If I write another Triwizard story, it'll probably be completely different. In this case, I'm going to go enough in depth into the 2nd and 3rd tasks that I think everyone will be happy.**

**Master: ...?**

**Guest: I'm probably going to alter the last two tasks, but I'm not changing them completely. **

**mudbloodpotter05: Yeah, looking back, I'm not pleased with how much they are used. If and when I edit them, I'll try and fix that, but, personally, I rarely use them outside of being truly infuriated, so they're kind of a sign of how angry he is. The differences I was referring to were his actions.**

**This chapter is a little shorter than the last few, but I wanted to leave the first task for the next time, and I really wanted to get something up soon. I'm not happy about its length, but I think I covered everything. If not, I might edit it some other time. Anyway, enjoy the latest chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Confrontations and Consequences<strong>

"Would you like to tell me what surprised you so much about that mark on Lord Malfoy's face, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well… At the world cup…" Harry noticed the downcast look in Dumbledore's eyes at the mention. He could guess why the mention of the events depressed the man. The thought of one of his students having to kill was clearly not pleasing to the Headmaster. "There were two wizards. One of them- one of them was Mr. Crabbe. The other… he got away before I could find out who he was, but I managed to get him on the face with a cutting curse. One that doesn't heal well."

"Which curse, Harry?"

"Sectumsempra." **IN THIS STORY, SNAPE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CURSE. **

"Ah. Not an illegal curse, per say, but one that is certainly classified as 'semi-dark'. Close enough to a dark curse that its use by an Auror has to be justified. Yes, I suppose that would leave a scar behind, especially this close to its use. In maybe two years or so, the scar will likely be able to be healed." Albus sighed. "So you're saying that Lord Malfoy was the second Death Eater?"

"Yes, professor. Considering what he did in my second year…" Giving Voldemort's damned cursed diary to an innocent girl was about as evil a thing as Harry could imagine someone doing. "After seeing that scar, I have no doubts that he was the other Death Eater."

"I see." Dumbledore frowned. "Well, I will have to think on this. In the meantime, I will certainly keep an eye on him. I'm afraid that your surety is insufficient to convict him of anything in a court of law."

"I think that's all I can ask for. Thank you, professor."

"No, thank you, Harry." The old man said, genuinely pleased that Harry had shared his suspicions with him.

"I suppose I should be getting back to class now…" He said.

"Actually, you might as well come with me. The Weighing of the Wands is in just a few minutes."

"The what?" Harry asked, confused.

"The Weighing of the Wands is a Triwizard tradition. We will present each Champion's wand to the school's chosen wandmaker, who will ensure that each contestant's wand is in working order, as it will be your most important tool in the tasks ahead."

Harry's wand slid into his hand, and he glanced down. A silvery symbol glinted back at him. He wondered what the wandmaker would say when he or she saw it. He'd carved it into the wand almost before he'd realized what he was doing. Just focusing on the silver rune had been enough to allow him to cast a patronus without needing to actually use the wand. When he did use it, it was much more powerful. Interestingly enough, his normal spells were a little stronger as well, even if the colors were tinged with silver. The only downside was that it was much harder to cast any spells without positive emotions. He sighed as he slid the wand back into his holster, then followed Dumbledore out of the room.

* * *

><p>Harry and Dumbledore were the first two to arrive at the room that had been set aside for the Weighing. The others trickled in over the next fifteen minutes. All in all, the small room was rather packed, considering there were fifteen people crowding it: the other two champions, their headmasters, an author and photographer from three different newspapers, the two judges, and Mr. Ollivander.<p>

"Mr. Ollivander?" Harry asked Dumbledore, surprised at who had been called to examine their wands.

"Yes, Harry. Garrick Ollivander is the premier wandmaker of England. When the tournament is held here in Hogwarts, we have always asked for a member of the Ollivander family. Durmstrang almost always calls in a member of the Gregorovitch family, though others have been invited. Beauxbatons simply requests that their most popular wandmaker at the time assist, as they do not have a family that specializes in wandcrafting."

"Well, now that everyone is here, why don't we have the home champion go first? Mr. Potter, please step forward." Ludo Bagman decided.

Thankful that he could just get it over with, Harry walked to Mr. Ollivander, who was standing in the center of the room, in a cleared area. With a flick of his wrist, Harry was holding his wand, which he handed over.

"Ah yes, this is one of mine. Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven and three-quarter inches, nice and supple. Excellent for all sorts of magic. But…" Ollivander's eyes opened wider as he laid eyes on the silver rune. "Mr. Potter, what have you done to your wand?!"

Harry sighed. "Well, after I figured out that focus rune with hat practice wand I got from you, I realized just how helpful it was to my magic. I decided to inscribe it into my wand. It's barely a millimeter deep, so it shouldn't disrupt the core. I went through about a dozen different materials with that practice wand, before I found that magically charged silver worked best with my Patronus. It makes all of my spells stronger."

"Well, this is unusual, but I have seen runic shortucts before." Ollivander mused. "This is significantly less invasive. I suppose that, so long as it still works, there is nothing wrong with it. Apart from this rune, it seems to be in nearly perfect condition."

Ollivander flicked the wand, but was surprised when nothing happened. "Mr. Potter? Your wand appears to be broken. I'm afraid…"

"No, it works fine." Harry assured him. He extended a hand, and Ollivander handed it back. "My spells are now all powered by my Patronus. Here, Expecto Patronum!" Harry invoked, the wand releasing a blinding silver light, which formed into an immaculate stag. Of course, its form was hard to see, considering the intensity of the light.

"Most impressive." Mr. Ollivander announced to the shocked audience. Seeing such a powerful Patronus was a shock to most of those watching. "Now, if you'll dispel that Patronus, Mr. Potter, why don't we have Ms. Delacour go next."

The beautiful blonde blinked the shock out of her eyes and gave Harry an appraising look, with a hint of something Harry hadn't seen, before stepping forward. She extended her wand to the older man.

"Hmm… Nine and a half inches… quite inflexible. Rosewood, with a core of veela hair, I believe? I don't use them myself." The man confessed. " I find that they make… rather temperamental wands. Orchideous!" The wand produced a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which Ollivander handed to Fleur, along with her wand.

"It was my grandmother's." Fleur agreed, a hint of respect in her eyes as she took back the wand. Clearly, she was impressed by his accuracy. She stepped back to her original place, before eyeing Harry again.

Krum stepped forward without needing a prompt, presenting his curved wand to the old man. "Ah, this is one of Gregorovitch's creations, is it not? Hornbeam and dragon heartstring… Ten and a quarter inches… A bit thicker than usual and abnormally rigid." He flicked the wand and it generated a sound like a cannon. "In perfect working order, Mr. Krum."

"Excellent, excellent!" Bagman declared, flouncing in front of everyone. "Thank you very much, Mr. Ollivander, for your assistance. Now, remember, there's barely a week until the first task, so I hope that you're all prepared."

Suddenly, Dumbledore started. "I'm afraid that I must return to my office, Harry. Have a nice day." The old man said, before swiftly exiting.

Almost immediately after the old man left, a blonde woman approached him eagerly.

"Harry Potter? My name is Rita Skeeter. Would you consent to a quick interview? Excellent!" She grabbed Harry's wrist and made to pull him away, only to yelp as something burned her hand.

"Let go of me, bitch." Harry spat, instinctively utilizing the Flame, even though the ring had not affected his emotions. "You're Rita Skeeter? As in, the Rita Skeeter who's been writing all of those trash articles about me?" At the woman's nod, Harry's temper grew. "No, I most certainly will not be giving you an interview. You can tell your editor, or whoever is in charge of the Daily Prophet that, if I see my name in there again with anything less than a complete retraction of every lie that's been in there, I will challenge them to a duel. Understand?"

She scowled at him. "You can't prevent us from writing whatever we want."

"I'll be saying the same thing in a letter later today. But I am 100% serious. If I see my name in there again, unless it is accompanied by a complete retraction of each and every one of your lies, I will challenge both you and your boss to a duel. And I will continue to do so with his replacement, until your lies are announced. Do you understand?" He fixed her with a furious glare, making her flinch.

"As- as if I care what a brat like you has to say." She stammered, before fleeing from the room.

The French reporter approached him hesitantly. "Mr. Potter, what lies are you referring to?"

"Oh, well, ever since I defended myself from those Death Eaters at the World Cup, she's been filling the Daily Prophet with lies about how unstable and evil I am. She makes me out to be an insane murderer, who barely escaped Azkaban with the help of Albus Dumbledore."

The French and Bulgarian reporters exchanged glances, before coming closer, asking a number of questions.

* * *

><p>After sending a letter to the editor of the Daily Prophet, Harry spent the rest of the day training in the Room of Requirement, before sneaking off to his new room just before curfew.<p>

At breakfast the next day, he received copies of the French and Bulgarian newspapers, which had accurate descriptions of the Weighing of the Wands, and another article that showed his declarations about the Prophet. The English newspaper, however, had a scathing article about him. His name wasn't mentioned, but his threats against Rita were, and he was referred to as 'The-Brat-Who-Must-Not-B e-Named', as a way of circumventing his threat. He was surprised to see that both his Lordship and the attempted censure weren't mentioned, but he supposed that Rita had pushed that back, in favor of publishing his threats to her.

Harry made his way to the doors, before he heard someone running up to him. He turned to see Hermione.

"Harry!" She cried. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Please, Harry, I'm so sorry." She sobbed. "Please forgive me. I'll do anything."

Harry looked at her with a frown. "Hermione, you were my best friend." The girl choked out another sob at the past tense. "Ron, he's always been jealous. He's always been so emotional. But you, you're supposed to be the logical one. The one who would pay attention to the facts, rather than what she hears." He closed his eyes for a moment. "You were the one person I thought would stand by me." He sighed. "Maybe we can be friends again, someday, but, well, after all we've been through… if you think I'd really enter this tournament… If you think so poorly of me that you'd vote to censure me… I can't deal with that right now. I'm sorry." He turned and walked away, guilt gripping his heart as he heard her sobs.

He forced himself to harden his heart. She had betrayed him. He couldn't focus on this, not with the first task so close.

* * *

><p>It seems that Hermione hadn't been the only one looking for him. A huge number of former Gryffindors sought him out, trying to convince him to let them back into the House. He avoided as many as he could as he went from class to class, refusing those he couldn't escape.<p>

He didn't have the time to deal with all of them. He had just five days until he would be dealing with the first task, and he had no information at all. He spoke to Sirius at one point, but the former prisoner didn't have anything to offer, besides a few useful spells to study.

Rita Skeeter had announced that he had 'usurped' the House of Gryffindor, somehow managing to fake his way into becoming the Head of the house. She spoke of how he had exiled the former members of the house after they tried to stop him from stealing the position of Lord Gryffindor. He had been furious after reading the article, but he didn't have time to deal with the bitch right now. He'd deal with her after the first task.

Thankfully, after speaking with Dumbledore after one of their lessons, the Headmaster had agreed to ban the woman from Hogwarts' grounds. It had spawned another nasty article, but neither really cared anymore. Of course, a large number of people still accepted her words as fact.

* * *

><p>Four days after the Weighing of the Wands, and just two days before the first task, he was leaving the Great Hall after lunch, heading down for a potions class with his least favorite teacher, when something hot slammed into his back. It carved a line across his back, sending him into a nearby wall, his head driving into the stone. He shunted the pain into a section of his mind with his Alar, but the pain was growing quickly. He tried to flick his wrist, but his hand had been crushed between his body and the wall. He tried to turn to allow himself to get his wand into position, the pain in his head growing exponentially with every movement. His eyes fluttered closed, before he forced them open again. The last thing he saw was crimson flame and a silver flash.<p>

* * *

><p>Harry awoke in the Hospital wing. He reached around, before finding his glasses and putting them on.<p>

"Mr. Potter!" Madame Pomfrey said, sounding pleased that he was awake. "Hold on one moment, the Headmaster asked to be informed when you woke up."

"Ugh." He groaned. "What happened?"

She hesitated. "I'm afraid that one student was… rather displeased, with being removed from Gryffindor house. He managed to hit you across the back with a perfectly cast flame-cutter curse."

Harry's eyes widened. The flame-cutter was a very dangerous spell. Also difficult to cast, it was capable of bisecting a man with relative ease.

"I'm afraid that he is no longer among us." She said sadly. "He was burned to a crisp, before being bitten in half by some sort of serpent."

Harry's eyes widened as he glanced down at his hand. That would explain the flame, but where did the snake come from? Did the Slytherin ring have the power to summon snakes, or what?

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he entered the Hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey left, returning to her office to give him and the Headmaster some privacy.

"I feel fine." Harry said with a shrug. "It looks like that Patronus Armor was a good idea."

"Yes, some eyewitnesses did say that you had a layer of silver under your clothing, and according to Madame Pomfrey, there was no damage from the flame cutter on your back."

The Patronus Armor was an idea of his. Basically, it was a skintight Patronus, hidden under his clothing that would protect him from spells. The idea was, considering the Patronus was basically pure magical energy, that it would disrupt any spells, though it would provide much less protection from physical attacks.

"I believe Madame Pomfrey mentioned a snake?" Harry asked.

"Yes. After you passed out, it seems that your rings acted to protect you, draining your magical core to destroy your attacker. The Flame of Gryffindor incinerated the young man who cast the flame-cutter, while the Slytherin ring transformed into an enormous serpent, biting him in half before coiling around you. Until I arrived, no one was able to get to you. Thankfully, the wound to your head was relatively minor. Pomfrey was able to fix you in less than an hour, but restoring your magical core took almost a full day."

A full day?! "Then the first task is tomorrow?!" Harry asked, panicking.

"I'm afraid so. No one will think poorly of you if you decided to perform only a minor attempt tomorrow, as we discussed." Dumbledore said almost eagerly, not wanting him to have to participate. The first task would be highly dangerous, and he didn't want his student to get hurt.

Harry shook his head. "I'll be fine." He hesitated. "Who was it?" He asked. "Who attacked me?"

Dumbledore's answer was drowned out as memories flooded his mind. They were incredibly disjointed, but he still understood the gist. A hissing in the backdrop helped him put together the memories into a coherent story. The attacker had been a pureblood, who's family had been in Gryffindor for a dozen generations. He'd thought that killing Harry would have been appropriate revenge for shaming him and his family.

"-arry? Harry? Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked frantically.

"Sorry Professor." Harry groaned as he rubbed his head. "It seems that the Slytherin ring just fed me that guy's memories."

"I am so sorry, Harry, that this happened under my watch." The headmaster told him sincerely. "I will instruct the portraits and ghosts to keep watch, so nothing like this happens again."

Harry hesitated, not liking the idea of being kept under watch, but he understood why Dumbledore was going to have them keep an eye on him.

"I don't like it, but thank you." Harry said with a sigh. "Am I allowed to leave now?"

"Yes, but I suggest that you take it easy. The first task is tomorrow, and you don't want to strain your magical core a second time so close to it."

Harry nodded. "I'll try to take it easy."

Dumbledore nodded. "Then good luck, Harry. I am sure you will perform magnificently tomorrow."

He and Harry exchanged genuine smiles, before the old man left the wing, allowing Harry to gather his things so he could prepare for the trial tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there's the latest chapter. Next, of course, is the First Task.<strong>

**I rewrote a couple of sections a number of times, and took out a lot. I had a section where Harry dueled Rita Skeeter for her slander, for example, but decided to take it out. He'll deal with her another time. I have something fun planned.**

**I really didn't want to come up with an OC, so I avoided even a name.**

**I gave an idea of what the Slytherin ring was capable of here at the end. More will be shown as time goes on. **

**Next time: First Triumph**

**The first task arrives, and Harry demonstrates his power. Also, dark plots change after seeing the light in action.**

**As always, read and review. Also, vote on my poll!**


	6. First Triumph

**Well, it's been a really long time, hasn't it? I've been super busy with a ton of things, so I haven't had a lot of time to write, and I haven't been able to get into my FFN account for more than six months either way. I haven't received any emails either, so I never saw any of the reviews or PMs I was sent. So if you sent one, I'm really sorry that I never responded, but I will from now on. I made the resolution that I'm not going to respond in chapter to every review anymore, but I might post the answer in the chapter too if I feel that people who didn't review might be interested. **

**For example, for everyone worried about Harry not responding properly to the trauma of killing someone? Well, there's a reason for that that's explained in this chapter. I had that planned for awhile now, so hopefully that explains it. For everyone who didn't pay attention last time: SNAPE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH SECTUMSEMPRA IN THIS STORY. In this case, it's just like any other semi-dark spell, one that is commonly known. Oh, and for everyone worried about Hermione turning on Harry, don't worry. There's a reveal coming up soon, one about Ron too.**

**I am still going to thank everyone who reviewed in the chapter, but this time I'm skipping it, since I don't have access to any of the emails anymore.**

**There are a few POV switches in the chapter. I haven't written them like this before, but I hope they read alright.**

**Anyway, I'm really sorry for leaving everyone without a chapter for so long, but I hope everyone's still interested! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>First Triumph<strong>

Harry peeked his head out of the tent to examine his surroundings. The stands were completely filled with people. They weren't just students either. There were a huge number of adults in the crowd, several of whom Harry managed to recognize from his trial. He also saw a set of four rather enormous dragons. His fingers tightened around his wand as one of them released a huge burst of flame with a loud roar.

"Regretting your choice to enter this tournament, little boy?" A snide voice demanded of him.

Harry turned to face the French champion, his eyes narrowing. "I already said that I didn't choose to enter the tournament. Either way, I'm going to win this whole thing."

Fleur sneered at him. "As if a few years of mediocre training from a low class school like Hogwarts could match the skills of one of Beauxbatons' elite!"

Viktor Krum, who had come over to hear what they were saying, smirked. "Indeed. From what we have seen of your… school, I doubt you will be any challenge at all."

Harry glared at both of the foreign champions. "Would you like to bet on that?"

"Gladly." Fleur sniffed. Viktor nodded, a malicious grin on his face.

"We're agreed then. The losers owe the winner a favor."

Not long after they came to an agreement, Bagman burst into the room, carrying a small bag. "And here're our champions! I hope you're all ready for the first task." He raised the bag. "I have here a bag, containing representations of what you'll be fighting to get past. Your goal is the golden egg, which the creatures are guarding." He flinched as the dragons roared. "Of course, by now, you can hear them…" He mumbled. Quieter, almost inaudibly, he continued to himself. "Though, they seem a lot fiercer than we were promised."

As part of the safety precautions for the tournament, the dragons' food was supposed to have been laced with calming draught over the past few days. The special brand of calming draught had an additional effect of dampening the fire breath of dragons. The chains were enchanted to be indestructible, as well as to calm the dragons even more. Dumbledore's insisted precautions should keep the three champions from being permanently injured by the dragons. Despite those restrictions, the dragons seem a lot angrier than the calming potions should allow, which worried Bagman slightly, but not enough to dull his enthusiasm.

"Here, ladies first." Bagman said happily, presenting the bag. Fleur stepped up and reached into the sack. She felt around the bag for a moment, before withdrawing a slim scarlet dragon, with a sign with a 1 tied around its neck. A tight smile appeared on her face, which was obviously tense, but showed signs of relief.

"Ooh, the Chinese Fireball." Bagman winced dramatically. He shook the bag towards the other two champions. Harry stepped forward to choose his dragon, but was shouldered out of the way.

"Skill before youth." Viktor sneered as he reached into the bag. He took a surprisingly long time to root around the bag, before withdrawing a silvery blue dragon, with a 2 around its neck. Harry spotted a flash of relief on Krum's face, before the famous seeker turned to smirk at Harry. "Good luck, child. You'll need it."

"So the Sweedish Short-Snout for Mr. Krum." Harry shrugged as he stepped forward. He reached into the bag and withdrew a fearsome looking black dragon, with a horrendously spiked tail. Just from the appearance of the dragon, he could tell that it was a lot more deadly than the other two. From his brief look outside, he'd seen that the black dragon was twice as big as either of the other dragons. The models had obviously been made to be the same size, to make it harder for the champions to pick based on appearance, but the features of the dragons had allowed the other two to select the less dangerous beasts. Somehow, the foreign champions had known of the dragons and had either seen the dragons or been told about them. It was the only way that they would have known to select the models based upon their shape.

So the other schools were cheating? Freaking fantastic. So not only was he at a disadvantage due to his age and training, he was even worse off due to his lack of information. Then and there, he decided that he was going to win this task, if only to show the other two champions that cheating doesn't pay.

"And our youngest champion selects the Hungarian Horntail." Bagman said, a hint of sympathetic fear in his voice. "Well, Ms. Delacour, you should exit the tent with the first sound. Obviously, you should go next, Mr. Krum, and Mr. Potter, you'll be last. Good luck." Bagman exited the tent, leaving the champions behind.

"So, you both knew in advance." Harry said, rather than asked. It was obvious that Fleur had picked the Fireball for its different shape, whereas Viktor had probably felt the difference in the tails. "Well, it's clear that neither of you were particularly confident about your skills, if you were scared enough to rig the contest."

"Pfft." Fleur scoffed. "Cheating is a tradition in the tournament. It's quite clear that our ability to gather information is superior to yours."

"It would be foolish not to select the easier path. I look forward to seeing your charred body." Krum said nastily.

"Oh, I have no doubts about my victory." Harry retorted. "Just make sure that you watch carefully. I want to see the look on your faces when I destroy the beast that you were too scared to fight."

Before any more could be said, a loud bang announced the start of Fleur's turn at the task.

* * *

><p>Harry and Krum did not speak to one another as they waited for their turns. They were not permitted to watch the task until after their turn, so they waited in silence, listening to the roars of the dragons and the reactions of the crowd. Finally, they heard Bagman announce that Fleur had managed to capture her egg, though she'd been burned in the attempt.<p>

Then, Harry was alone in the tent. He braced himself for his next fight. Silver light seemed to drip from his wand as he gripped it tightly. If he said he wasn't a little scared, then he'd be lying. Even the monster-loving Hagrid had told him of the horrifying Hungarian Horntail. But he pushed his fear away. With his fledgling Occlumency, he began to clear his mind, knowing he would need every bit of focus he could muster to win the fight.

With his eyes closed and his mind clearing, he barely heard the cheers of the crowd, or the pained screams of the dragon. He could scarcely percieve the difference in time as the handlers took three times longer to get the Horntail into position as they did the other dragons. As he completely cleared his mind, he opened his emerald eyes, standing almost emotionlessly as he waited for the sound of the spell that signaled the start of his turn. His mind was filled with the image of the Patronus he wanted to make.

Once he heard it, he strode out into the sunlight. He faced the enormous mass of the furious Horntail, his face devoid of fear. Its yellow eyes leered at him with hate. He could even see the flames waiting to explode from its jaws. It raised its head up and unleashed a huge burst of flame into the sky in challenge.

"Now, our youngest champion, Lord Harry Potter, of Hogwarts, will face the final dragon, the Hungarian Horntail!" Bagman announced. Despite his current pariah status, most of Hogwarts cheered for him, as he was representing the whole school. "Now, you may-"

Bagman's voice trailed off as the dragon unleashed a burst of flame directly at Harry. The teenager leapt aside. He could feel the rock he was hiding behind beginning to heat up, not to mention the flame itself. He raised his wand into the sky, the silver rune igniting with power.

Harry roared the incantation to his favorite spell. "Expecto Patronum!" An enormous pillar of silver light exploded from the tip of his wand. It quickly coalesced into a shape even larger than the Horntail. A tremendous dragon, formed entirely of silver light, tackled the Horntail, roaring out its own silver fire, which splashed against the Horntail's scales. It screamed in pain.

The black dragon unleashed a burst of its fire directly at the silver dragon. The flame seemed to be absorbed into the silver construct. For a moment, Harry was worried about the magical disruptive properties of dragon's fire, even considering the energy absorbing properties of the patronus. However, his Patronus easily absorbed the flame and dispersed it.

His chest heaving, he readied himself to make his way to the nest of eggs. He was more than a little drained from casting such an enormous spell, but it looked like his one spell was going to be enough.

* * *

><p>In the crowd, under an invisibility cloak, Lucius Malfoy scowled as the Potter brat somehow created a silver dragon of his own to fight the dragon. He'd hoped that replacing the calming potion for one that induced a massive amount of rage, especially in dragons, would be enough to kill the brats, and even let him pin some blame on Dumbledore. Unfortunately, the other two champions had survived easily enough, and it looked like Potter was going to do better than either of them.<p>

Not on his watch. He reached into a pocket and removed a slim black rod. A forbidden magical item, the length of cursed wood was known as a Nullifier, or a Black Wand, for its ability to dispel any and all magic in a wide area. It wasn't very effective against wards, but even enchantments could be temporarily disabled. The creation of a Black Wand required the sacrifice of more than a dozen muggles, using the lack of magic in their blood to treat the wood itself, while using wizard sacrifices to generate the power. The knowledge of creating them was lost, and this particular one had taken several hundred thousand galleons, and it had taken three different black markets to find one for sale.

He took the Wand between his gloved hands and snapped it in half, letting the pitch black blood spill upon the dirt beneath them. He removed his gloves and vanished them, along with the residue of the Black Wand, leaving no trace. He hadn't even purchased a ticket, bribing his way in instead, so no one would be able to accuse him of doing anything. He grinned as the silver dragon vanished, even as the chain binding the Horntail shattered. This would be amusing.

* * *

><p>Harry could actually feel the pulse of dark magic wash over him. It sent a shiver down his spine. He could only watch in horror as his patronus vanished and the Horntail's chain broke. He saw the fury in the Horntail's eyes multiply, and its next blast of flame was twice as strong. It lifted up into the air, each beat of its wings sending crushing air down upon the whole arena.<p>

Harry was more than a little worried about fighting a flying dragon. Mustering his power, he raised his wand and sent a javelin of silver light through the air, managing to pierce one of the Horntail's wings. It shrieked as it fell to the ground, flailing in an attempt to right itself.

Harry sprinted towards the nest. If he could get the egg, then the task would be over, and the dragon handlers would take over. He knew that, once Dumbledore was allowed to interfere, he'd be safe. But, upon hearing a shriek of fear, he couldn't help but glance back, cursing himself for his stupid saving-people habit.

The dragon, still in pain from the new hole in its wing, was heading towards the small tent that housed the infirmary. Pomfrey was cowering outside, holding her wand shakily towards the advancing beast. Unfortunately, attempting to directly interfere with the task would cost anyone affiliated with the tournament their magic. Which, of course, meant that no one could help but him. There was no way he could get to the eggs before the dragon killed Pomfrey, Fleur, and Krum, not to mention anyone else who might be nearby or in the tent.

He turned to face the dragon, still berating himself. He didn't have the magical power for another giant construct like the dragon from before. His smaller constructs wouldn't be able to withstand the dragon's fire, and even if they could, they wouldn't be much help. With that in mind, he quickly ran through his options, coming up with only one.

He pumped magic into his skintight patronus armor. Thankfully, it was easier to channel magic into a construct than it was to create a new one. He poured more and more magic into it, until it was an almost blindingly bright suit of silver armor that was three times taller than he was. He knew it was a little risky to use so much magic, but he needed enough power to give him resistance to the dragon fire. He had maybe three or four medium sized constructs left in him before he'd be in a really dangerous place.

He reached down with a single silver hand and hurled a rather large stone at the dragon. It reared up in anger and turned to face him. Its yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of the silver armor. The Horntail lunged towards him, flames erupting from its maw. Harry stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the jet of flame that, without the weakening effect of the chains, could actually melt rocks.

He conjured a huge silver sword and swung it at the dragon. He didn't have much skill, but the blade was dangerous enough to cripple the dragon no matter how he hit it. The dragon was agile enough to move aside, avoiding Harry's clumsy attack at its neck. He managed to clip the undamaged wing, shearing off about a third of it. The magically keen edge was stronger and sharper than any steel, and the leathery wings weren't any match for the blade.

Shrieking in pain, the Horntail rose up and its powerful legs propelled it forward, tackling Harry, pinning him to the ground. Harry tried to dodge, but the dragon used one of its wings to sweep a huge boulder into Harry's path, stopping his movement.

Tackled to the ground, Harry could see the evil cunning in the dragon's eyes as it reared back, fire glowing in its throat. He might have gained resilience to the fire, but there was no way he'd survive a concentrated blast.

He forced himself out of the armor, opening the back to allow himself to fall to the ground, where there was just enough space for his real body.

He could feel the front of his armor dissolving from the flame. He knew he only had a few seconds left to act. He raised his wand and poured every last bit of power he had into the armor, reshaping it into a massive beam. For an instant, Harry thought he was about to die, that his last second strategy had failed. Then, his beam punched through the dragon fire and straight through the dragon's mouth. Harry didn't lower his wand until his patronus blast exploded through the back of the dragon's skull, soaring into the sky.

Exhausted, Harry scrabbled to avoid being crushed by the falling dragon. With no strength left to run, he slowly made his way over to the nest and reached down to pick up the golden egg. Hearing a scratching sound, he looked around to see bits of black eggshell fall away, revealing a small dragon's head poking out of one of the eggs. His emerald eyes met the yellow eyes of the baby dragon, and he groaned.

What now? He wondered to himself as he picked up the egg, ending the task. The dragon reached for him, forcing the eggshell away from itself. Before Harry could pull away, the dragon had practically tied itself around his arm, unwilling to be separated. Too tired to do anything else, he just lifted the golden egg, the dragon still around his forearm.

Harry turned back to the stands. He barely managed to hoist the egg aloft with the non-dragon-laded arm. For a moment longer there was silence. Then, the stands erupted with cheers.

* * *

><p>Fleur froze in place, absolutely petrified. The furious yellow eyes set into the looming black face of the dragon were boring into hers, paralyzing her as much as any curse. She remembered when Madame Maxime had shown the creatures to her. The Horntail had absolutely terrified her, far more than even its monstrous features should have. As someone who was heavily resistant to fire, she normally felt little fear towards the breath of a dragon, but the Horntail still scared her beyond belief.<p>

At first, the day seemed to be going so well. Maxime had confided in her that the chains were enchanted and that the dragons had been drugged to be calmer. She'd been a lot more confident going in, especially after she managed to cheat her way into getting one of the other dragons. Bagman certainly wasn't resistant to her Veela Allure, and had allowed her to pick first. She had even suckered Krum and that cheating Potter brat into an easy bet. As if the schooling from either of their lower class institutions could match the French training of Beauxbatons!

The Fireball had been big, but not that frightening. A combination of her Allure and sleeping charms had lulled the beast into an easy slumber. Unfortunately, as she'd passed by, it had woken and unleashed a blast of fire, catching her leg as she sprinted past. The fire had been a lot stronger than she'd ever expected, severely burning her. The moment that she'd picked up the egg, the handlers had rushed into the arena and subdued it. She hadn't seen Krum's performance, as she'd been receiving healing from the surprisingly competent Hogwarts healer, but he'd had a rather nasty lash all the way across his back when he'd come in. Probably from the dragon's tail, if she'd have to guess. She'd gone out just in time to see the cheater emerge from the tent.

When his turn had begun, she'd been stunned by the power that the Potter boy had shown. Conjuring a full dragon, even larger than the Horntail? Such a feat was something that she'd never even heard of before. But then, there was that horrid pulse. That feeling of evil that practically froze her skin. She felt her own Veela Allure sputter and fail, for the first time in her life. The silver dragon vanished and the black beast broke free of its chains. The Horntail rose into the sky, but a spear of silver fire punched a hole in the beast's wing, sending it plummeting to the ground. For a moment, Fleur thought that she was safe. Then, the dragon recovered. It couldn't fly anymore, but it could still move, and the beast was doing so. It was moving towards her, towards where she was resting in the infirmary tent.

She knew full well that she couldn't even turn her wand onto it. Any spell, even just consciously using her natural Allure, would cost her all of the magic in her body. She wanted to turn and run, but she was too scared to try it. With every earth-shaking step, she could feel herself growing more and more terrified.

Then, a giant, clad in shining silver, appeared. The dragon appeared not to notice until a rather large boulder hit it. She quickly realized that the only person who could possibly fight the dragon at the moment would be the Hogwarts champion. Potter brandished an equally radiant sword and took off part of the dragon's wing. The dragon tackled him in response, pinning him to the ground. Her hands went to her mouth, horrified as the demon poured flame upon the knightly figure.

To her shock, the armor seemed to dissolve into a shining beam that seemed an even match for the jet of flame. Her breath caught as the beam seemed to falter for a moment. From what little she could see, it was pretty clear that the boy was struggling, from where he was at the base of the beam. Then, she saw the silver burst through the flame and explode out of the back of the dragon's head.

She finally found her voice just in time to cheer with everyone else as he lifted the egg aloft. He might be the competition, but she had enough sportsmanship to appreciate a fine performance. She eyed the dark haired teenager across the arena. Maybe there was something more to the boy after all…

* * *

><p>Harry could barely keep his head up as he waited to receive his scores. The dragon had apparently fallen asleep, but it was still attached to his arm, and nothing he could do could get it off without hurting it. Charlie Weasley had promised to speak with him later, after they dealt with the Horntail.<p>

He'd been a little worried about making enemies with the dragon handlers for killing the dragon, but they'd fully understood the dangers of a rampaging dragon. He'd been shunting all of the guilt he felt into a corner of his mind, which was probably a very bad thing to do once again, but he just didn't have time to deal with it at the moment. He'd spent a few days venting his angst over committing his first kill in the Room of Requirement once he'd arrived in Hogwarts. He was aware that showing no guilt for killing someone made him seem even worse to everyone, but the mental arts just made it so easy to hide the guilt away until he could deal with it later. It was hard to force yourself to deal with everything once you could lock some of your feelings away until later.

He watched as each judge raised their wand into the air and release a ribbon that turned to form a number. To his surprise, he saw a row of tens, with Karkaroff grudgingly giving him a seven. He had scored a 47 in the first task! He heard Bagman cast "Sonorous!".

"And, with an amazing display of magical skill, Harry Potter of Hogwarts scores an unbelievable 47 points, putting him in first place! Ms. Delacour, Beauxbatons, follows him with 40 points, while Mr. Krum from Durmstrang is in third with 30 points. Congratulations to our champions, and the next task will take place on the 24th of February! I hope to see all of you there for another great show!"

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there's the First Task. I actually rolled a die to see which dragon Fleur and Krum would fight. Oh, and I know that the Horntail was officially brown, but I wanted it to be black for a reason. Everyone'll see what happens with the baby dragon in the next chapter.<strong>

**Oh, and if anyone wants to try and name it, I'm open for suggestions. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to use the 'Dragons speak Parseltongue' cliche, but I'm considering it. I do have other options, though, so if you have objections, now would be the time to speak up.**

**If you follow any of my other stories, then know that I should have the next chapter of EOTG up before the end of the year. I put a note about my Naruto stories on my profile, so take a look at that, if you care.**

**Anyway, hopefully you all liked the way the fight went. Some people predicted part of it, but I think even they'll be surprised. It's quite a long fight, and I think it came out decently. There may or may not have been a little bit of influence from a movie I saw recently in there. I've never seen anyone have Harry not learn about the dragons in advance, so that should be pretty new too.**

**Oh, and a relationship with Fleur isn't guaranteed, but it is a possibility. I'll put up a poll soon as to who everyone wants Harry to be paired with in this. Daphne is another pairing that I've come to enjoy, so she's in there as well. If you have other suggestions, feel free to let me know and I'll add them.**

**I wanted to apologize once more for taking so long to update. Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!**

**Next time: An Unexpected Task**

**Harry finds out about quite a few things, the least daunting being an upcoming Yule Ball. In addition, we just might find out what is going on with Hermione. Or I might keep you all waiting. **

**Happy Holidays to everyone! Review and let me know what you think.**


End file.
